Fearing Love
by Hench-Girl95
Summary: I never thought that someone like me would end up like this. I trusted him. I should've known it was too good to be true. I was falling in love with him. But once I found out who he truly was, nothing was ever the same again. Jonathan CranexOC JokerxOC First fanfic, so don't hate. Stockholm Syndrome. A story featuring parts from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight combined.
1. Prologue

Well this is it! My first chapter to my first story! Well, It's a prologue, but it's only here to tell me if you guys want to see more of this story! :D I hope you enjoy it, and leave me feedback! Pwease! Jonathan's waiting for you! 33

**Prologue**

There was silence all around me, except of the sound of my own beating heart. It sounded as if it was about to bounce out of my chest. I tried to call out to see if anyone was around, but my throat was too dry from sobbing. I listened closely, but I couldn't hear a sign of anyone around. Not even him.

Even after all the things that he had done to me, I was wishing he was here, so I wouldn't go crazy alone in this eerie silence. Not that I wasn't already.

These few past days have been my own personal hell. Facing my fears was something I never planned on doing, but that's exactly what he's made me do. It got to the point to where I wish I was dead. But, I knew he wouldn't kill me. I'm 'too precious' to him. I'm his 'pride and joy'. His 'best work'.

I tried several times to escape, but it was no use. I was sure I was going to be with him there for the rest of my days. I would have to sit through the constant torture of facing my fears every single day for the rest of my life.

I didn't know why he had chosen me, over all people. I wasn't anything special. I never found myself attractive, or my personality all the magnificent. He must've seen something in me that no one else had seen, not even myself. Or I could've been just some random test subject of his. But why had he kept me for so long? Hadn't he had enough of my screaming and pleading for help whenever he would spray me with that fear gas of his? I wouldn't dare ask, because of what he might do to me. He never liked it when I asked questions. But still, I've always wanted to know why he looked at me with those bright, clear blue eyes of his the way he did. The way he smiled at me all the time. I wanted to know what he was thinking. I wanted to get inside of his head. I wanted to know why I was still here. I _needed _to know. Answering my questions was the least he could do after all he put me through, but I knew the consequences of asking questions.

I had sat there for another two hours until I finally heard some footsteps coming from down the hall. I must've looked like some sort of dog waiting for his master to come home. I knew it would be nearly impossible for someone other than him to show up, but it didn't hurt to hope. Unfortunately, I was half-way disappointed when I saw his tall, skinny silhouette in the near distance. Once he had entered the room, the light was shining down on him. He had very nice facial features, and if I wasn't so afraid of him, you could say that I found him very attractive. But his personality ruined everything.

I was sitting in the corner, my face dried with tears and mascara, as he looked down at me. He smirked at me, probably thinking about how dreadful I must have looked. I stared up at him with my hazel-colored eyes, sparkling with forming tears.

"My, my, Angela, why the long face? I figured you would be happy to see me, since you have been alone for quite a while… and I haven't done anything to you." He reached down with his hand, and put it on my cheek, stroking it softly, sending chills up and down my spine, but I wasn't shaking with fear like I usually was. At that point, I knew that I was beginning to grow stronger. But, I knew he was still stronger than me. And I thought he always would be.

He stepped away from me, turning his back towards me, walking slowly away, but he remained in the room. Silence swept the room once more. I figured this was my chance to finally ask him the question I wanted to be answered. Even though I knew the consequences, I knew I had to ask sometime. I took a deep breath and exhaled, holding my hand tightly in the other. I opened my mouth to start talking, but then I stopped myself. I was starting to have second thoughts. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"J-Jonathan…." My heart stopped once I said his name. Now I couldn't turn back. He turned around, and gave me his full attention. I swallowed, looked down, avoiding his gaze.

"I.. I just wanted to know…w-why am I still here?" My voice trailed off at the end of the sentence. At first I thought he didn't hear me, but the look he gave me was just a look of shock. He knew he had told me to never ask questions. I figured he would be furious. For a few moments, I was expecting him to hit me like he had done before, but instead, he tilted his head slightly to the side while staring at me, with a pleasant smirk on his face. Now I was the one wearing a look of shock. It was unbelievable how well he was behaving right now. Maybe I had caught him in a good mood. He was never in a good mood. He began to slowly walk towards me, and stopped a few inches in front of me. He bent down, so we were face to face. He slouched forward, and took my chin and moved it upward so I was looking into his eyes. The look in his eyes made mine widen. He wasn't angry at all. He was…amused. Amused that I had just asked him a question. He removed his hand from my chin, but I didn't dare look away. He leaned forward a few inches more. At first, I thought he was attempting to kiss me, so I backed away a few inches, but he went over and put his mouth to my ear, whispering softly into it

"In time…. you will know…"

The next thing I knew, all the light escaped from my sight, and I was surrounded in pure darkness.


	2. A New Beginning

**A/N: Alright, here is the first official chapter. I'm sorry for the last chapter being so short. I wrote it at 3 in the morning.. I'm still proud of it, and in almost 24 hours, I've gotten 2 reviews already. More than I expected. Haha! Again, please give me some pointers on this story, and tell me how I can make it better. But, please do not be rude about it. **

**Thanks to: ShatteredMirrorReflection and aiinyoon for reviewing the prologue and for your nice comments. It really does make me feel good. Oh, and just a warning, the first few chapters might be a little slow, but it's just so that I can introduce Angela to you guys. But, I promise, you won't be disappointed when the action comes. Now, on to the first chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jonathan Crane, or any other Batman characters that may be used in this story.**

**A New Beginning**

It was a windy, warm sunny spring afternoon. I remember it very clearly. I was driving around the very unfamiliar city in my brand new, bright orange Volkswagen Beetle. It was a convertible, so I had the top down, and my speakers were blasting out Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. I was right behind my moving van, following them down Main Street, because I was afraid I would forget where I was going. One of the negative things about living in the city, was the traffic jams. Unfortunately for me, I was right in the middle of lunch hour. But, I didn't mind, because it gave me a chance to look around at the scenery. There was so much going on. Honking horns from cars, people cursing at one another, business people talking on their cell phones on the sidewalks. My head was spinning from all the chaos, but I knew I had to get used to it sometime. As the traffic lightened up, we turned right off of Main Street, and headed towards my new home.

Northway Drive was the neighborhood I had chosen to live in. Most of the neighbors were elderly people, so that explained why it was quieter than most places in the city. It was just outside of Gotham City welcome sign, and the houses were spread further apart, so it had some sort of a country feel to it, which somewhat made me feel at home, but it made me miss my real home.

I parked right behind the moving truck, and stepped out slowly, observing my new surroundings. It was a very old house that had just been remodeled, so it looked brand new. It wasn't too big, but it wasn't too small. It was just the perfect size for one person. I looked around to look at the other houses, which were much bigger than mine, but I didn't mind. Elderly people always had more money than people such as myself, because they either had huge retirement savings, or they had children with decent paying jobs. Of course like any other person, I wish I had more money, but I was content with what I had. And that's all that mattered.

Thanks to my mother, she paid the movers to move my furniture and other belongings into my house, so I didn't have to lift a finger. I sat outside on the porch, drinking some lemonade one of the movers had offered me from the gas station we last stopped at. I did feel a little guilty for not at least asking someone if they needed my help, but I knew I would just be in the way, because my fragile little body wouldn't be able to carry much. So, I just sat out and watched them do their job. As I continued to watch the movers, something suddenly caught my eye. Across the street, was a young man heading towards his parked black Mustang. Frankly, I was quite surprised to see someone as young as him here. But, maybe he was helping his grandmother out with the house chores, I thought to myself. It was still odd to see someone like him here, though. But, I guess other people would say the same thing about me. He stopped right in front of his car, looking down at what appeared to be a cell phone. I wondered whether I should go over there to introduce myself, or wait until later, because he appeared to be awfully busy. But, I sighed and shrugged my shoulders, pushing myself from my chair and walked down the steps towards his house. As I hurried across the street, just in case a car came speeding down it, I stopped at the end of his drive way. Apparently, he didn't notice I was there, because his eyes were still glued to his cell phone. I slowly crept up towards him, but stopped suddenly when his eyes flickered towards me, with a scowl on his face. My eyes widened a little when I looked into his. He had the most gorgeous blue eyes, but they were somewhat hidden behind his square shaped glasses, and the softest looking dark brown hair. His other facial features were very nice as well, although he wasn't movie star quality, like Brad Pitt. I snapped out of checking him out, and gave him a small, meek smile. He turned his body towards me, the scowl disappearing from his face, replaced with a tiny smirk. He took a step towards me, putting his cell phone in his pocket.

"Well, hello. May I help you?" He asked with such sincerity, it almost sounded fake. As if he was pretending to be polite, if that was even possible. But, I smiled anyway, slowly holding out my hand towards him for him to shake.

"Um, my name is Angela Johnson. I'm new to the neighborhood. As you can see… I'm just now moving in. I apologize if I'm interrupting anything, but I couldn't help but notice you. When I saw you, I was surprised because I thought I was the only non-elderly person who lived here. But, I guess I was wrong." I chuckled nervously and cleared my throat. I didn't know why I was so nervous. Maybe it was because I always had a hard time talking to men. I was never a social butterfly. After a few beats, he took my hand firmly, and shook it slowly, then quickly put it back to his side.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Angela. I'm Dr. Jonathan Crane, psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. And no, you weren't interrupting anything, I was just in the middle of sorting out a situation with one of my patients, but it's not that big of a deal. I'm sure my employees know what to do. Today is my day off, and I plan on using it to do some…research." He gave me another sincere smirk. Whenever he spoke, he sounded so professional. He must have really got into his job if sounded like this outside the office.

I smiled back as I took a step backwards, crossing my arms together. "Well, I just wanted to introduce myself. I should probably be getting back to monitor the movers. I don't want them to break anything valuable. It was very nice to meet you, though. I'll be sure to come and talk again once I've settled in, if you don't mind of course."

His clear blue eyes pierced through mine as he smirked one last time, and nodded one. "Not at all, I'd love to have some…company. Until then, Angela." He gave me one last look, then slowly turned back to his car. He was a very strange man, but I feel like that I could really get along with him. I was going to need someone to talk to if I was going to survive in this town.

As I walked back to my house, a very interesting thought crossed my mind. With the way he acted towards me, it seemed like he was hiding something, but I couldn't tell what it was. I was always good at telling whether someone had a secret, just by the way they acted. Could it have something to do with his 'research'? Possibly. But, I wanted to know for sure. God, I sounded like an obsessed ex-girlfriend. But, it always interested me to find out what people were up to, even if I didn't know them well. I knew it would take some time, but I was determined to find out what he was doing with that 'research' of his.


	3. Curiouser and Curiouser

**A/N: Alright! First chapter was a success. Got two more reviews telling me that they loved it, and I now have 7 story alerts, and 2 people who added my story to their favorites. Thank you! It's greatly appreciated. I love you! Jonathan loves you too :D **

**P.S. I've tweaked a small part in the first chapter. Those of you who paid attention to the little details in the last chapter will notice the change. If not, you'll notice the change in this chapter. Btw, this chapter should be a little more paced then the last one. You're welcome :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not Jonathan Crane or any other Batman character that may be used in this story. **

**Curiouser and Curiouser**

**Flashback**

_I had just woken up to the sound of my mother's crying. It was coming from downstairs by the front door. Worried, I quickly hopped out of bed, and flew down the stairs, but stopped halfway, only to discover that my father was covered from head to toe in his army get-up. Confused, I looked over to my mother whose head was on his shoulder_

"_What's going on, mommy?" I said with my shaky voice. _

_She looked up at me, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She removed herself from my father's arms, and pointed towards me. He slowly turned around, his eyes staring up towards me. He walked over to the edge of the stairs, climbed up them to meet me halfway. My bottom lip was trembling. Seconds later, he picked me up and carried me the rest of the way down. He put my back down, and then bent down to his knees so he was eye-level to me. He put his hands on the sides of my face, stroking my cheeks softly with his fingers. _

"_Honey, daddy has to go away for a little while… But, he'll be back. It's only temporary." He spoke in a positive sounding voice, although I knew that he wasn't positive about what he was saying. "Angela… Daddy loves you, so much. And to show you how much I love you, I want you to have this.." He reached up with his hands to remove the dog-tag necklace from his neck that said 'Johnson' on the front. _

"_It's for you to hold on to while I'm gone." He slowly put it over my head, lifting my hair over the chain as it graced my neck. "I love you, Snowbird…" He leaned over and gave me a kiss on my forehead, and I felt a tear of his hit the top of my head. At that point, both my parents were crying, but not me. I was too numb. It was happening so quickly, I could hardly even register that my father was leaving me._

_He stood up slowly back up to his feet, and turned to my mom to give her one last hug, making her sob even more. "I love you, Jack." I heard her mumble in between sobs. _

"_I love you too, Marie. More than anything in the world…" He gave her a sweet kiss on the lips, stroking her cheeks to wipe away the tears that were pouring down them. When he turned away from her, he gave me one last look before he left. He gave me a salute, and I saluted him back. _

"_I'll be back before you know it." _

_And that was the last time I ever heard his voice._

It had been a week since my move in day, and it was not as bad as I thought it would be. People had told me that the first week of living alone was the hardest, but that wasn't the case for me. It was actually a very pleasant first week for me. Maybe it was because I liked the freedom of living by myself.

I hated the constant nagging my mother would give me whenever I would do the slightest thing wrong when I lived with my parents. My father was the complete opposite, though, and that's why I loved him so much. You could say that I was a daddy's girl. My father and I had a very strong relationship. When I was a young girl, we would give each other code names, and act like we were on a secret mission for the United States Army. My name was 'Snowbird', and his was 'Papa Bear'.

There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about him, and how life would be so much different if he was still alive, and how different I would be. He died when I was 6 years old, so for 14 years, I had to live without him. I still wish there was something I could've done to change his fate, but I knew it would have been impossible.

I still had his dog-tag necklace, which I wore every single day. I would constantly rub it between my thumb and index finger for good luck, and it seemed to have worked that week, for I had landed a job at the local movie theatre on my first try. I always thought that the necklace made me feel that my father was always with me, so it might not have been good luck at all. It might've just been just my father looking after me from above.

I was staring off into space, thinking about my father and my past when suddenly I realized what time it was. Of course I would've been late getting ready for my first day of work. I quickly slammed my coffee down on the counter and rushed to the bathroom. I had no time to take a shower, so I threw my thin, golden-blonde locks into a pony tail, slapped some eye-liner and mascara on. Once I was done brushing my teeth, I sprinted into my room to change into my work uniform, which was made up of black slacks, a white short-sleeve button up, and a black bowtie. As I finished getting dressed, I hurried out back into the kitchen to grab my purse and keys, and sprinted out the door.

I arrived into the parking lot of the movie theatre, surprisingly on time. I rushed right into the employee entrance in the back of the theatre to put my belongings in the locker that I was given when I applied for the job.

I usually never got nervous when it came to doing new things, but I was absolutely terrified. What if none of the other employees liked me? What if I did something stupid and got made fun of? I suddenly realized that I wasn't thinking like myself. I took a deep breath in to recollect my thoughts. I rushed out of the locker room and into my new boss's office.

I knocked on the door in the same rhythm my father used. I put my ear against the door until I heard a faint 'Come In' come from the other side. I slowly turned the knob and entered the room. His office was very small, smaller than I expected from a man who dressed for success, but I guess the movie theatre itself was nothing to ride home about. I gave him a small smile, trying to hide the fact that my heart was going to jump out of my chest at any moment.

"Hello, Mr. Jackson. I know I said I would be early today, but I lost track of time. But, I'm here now!" I gave him one of my awkward sounding chuckles.

He gave me a scowl and exhaled deeply.."It's alright, Angela. But, don't tell me that you're going to do something, and then not do it. I don't do well those kinds of people."

"Oh, I won't! This is the first and last time! I promise!" I gave him a smile and I turned around to leave. "You won't be disappointed!" Then I turned the knob and rushed out of his office.

I stepped out into where the concessions were being sold, and I asked around to the other employees on what I should do. They all told me the same to fill the popcorn bin. It was the one job I didn't want to do, but I guess if I didn't do it, no one else would have. So, for the rest of my shift, I continuously filled the popcorn bin.

When I arrived home, I smelled of popcorn butter and candy bars. That combination to me was so atrocious, I almost threw up in my drive-way. But, I recollected myself, thinking that I couldn't do this every single time I got home, so I slowly got up from the car and slammed the door.

I leaned up against my car, too tired to even move my legs at that moment. But, when I decided to head towards the door, something caused my eyes to flicker towards Jonathan's house. I hadn't spoken to him in a week, causing me to almost forget about him. How could I forget about him? He was a very unforgettable person. His face hardly had a flaw to it. His eyes would pierce right through you if you looked into them. The day that I met him, I could hardly stop thinking about him. The way he stared at me would creep any other person out. But not me. I didn't know what it was, but something just clicked between me and him. God, I hardly knew the guy, and I sounded like I was in love. I didn't believe in love at first sight, and I highly doubt he did either.

I could see right through the kitchen window, so I decided to see if I could see any sign of him. Lucky me, I could see his skinny frame. I wasn't sure if I was right, but it seemed to me he had something in his hands. Something that looked like a sack of some sort. I hesitated at first, but since it was dark enough, I decided to get a closer look. I jogged across the street, very quietly of course, until I was right beside his kitchen window.

God, first I was daydreaming about a guy I just met, now I'm stalking him. What next? Climb through his bedroom window and snoop through his drawers? I giggled at the thought, but then I stopped when I heard him grunt loudly. It sounded like he was fighting with someone, but I didn't see anyone else in there with him. Curious, I slowly turned my body and I peeked through the window. All I saw was him sitting at the kitchen table. I guess I was just hearing things. Maybe it was the smell of popcorn getting to my head. I shrugged, but something kept my eyes glued on him. I saw the sack in his hands, but it wasn't an ordinary sack. It looked like something you would put your potatoes in. But, why would he have that and no potatoes? Maybe he was that kind of person who would buy a flat screen TV, but wouldn't watch television, and rather play with the box. But, that was highly unlikely with a man with of his status. Still, why would he have an empty potato sack in his hands?

I soon got my answer when he lifted it up to his face. There were stiches shaped like a mouth, and eye holes right above the stiches. It was a mask? Why would he make a mask out of a potato sack? This man is truly the weirdest person I've ever met. And what made it worse is that I caught him moving his lips, as if he was talking to himself. I couldn't understand what he was saying at first, but his voice got louder, and louder, until I could hear him almost perfectly clear.

"Would you please stop it? I don't want to deal with you right now!" I heard him yell in complete distress. Was this asylum he worked at getting to him? It wouldn't be very long until he was put in a padded cell himself. But, maybe I was jumping to conclusions. Maybe he was talking with someone on the phone, like through one of those blue tooth devices that were so small that I couldn't see it from that distance. But why would he talk on the phone to someone he didn't want to talk to? It all seemed very strange to me. I wanted to knock on his door and ask him if he was okay, but I didn't know how he would react if he knew I could hear him. I could tell he was a very unpredictable person. I decided that I would talk to him the next day, but not mention anything about that night.

As I went to leave, it was too dark to see that a rock was right in front of me. Of course, clumsy me had to trip right over the rock, and land on my face. I was so surprised that I screamed. I realized how loud I was, and how close to the window I was, so I hoped that he didn't hear me. I guess the dog-tag necklace of mine decided not to give me good luck, because I soon saw the porch light flicker on, and the door open and close loudly. I hoped that the darkness of the night would give me enough camouflage so he wouldn't see me.

"Hello? Who's out there?" He said in a very irritated voice. He walked out onto the yard as I slowly tried to stand up and walk away. Unfortunately, I realized that I still had my white work shirt on, which showed up easily in the dark. His head turned towards my direction and he walked towards me. My breathing picked up as he quickly caught up to me.

"I'm so sorry, Jonathan. I..I just saw you in the kitchen window… And…And…I came over here.. and then-then I fell and…ugh." I exhaled loudly, and I looked down in embarrassment.

He sighed deeply as well, but I could see a tiny hint of a smirk in the darkness. "It's alright, Angela. You know, I was just thinking about you. And how you said you would come over as soon as you were settled in. But, I didn't think it would be like this."

Thank God that it was nighttime, or else I would've been even more embarrassed by my excessive blushing at that moment. A nervous chuckle escaped my lips as I sighed with relief. I know how angry he was inside, and I thought he would blow up on me, but I guess I was wrong.

"R-Really? Well, I didn't really plan on coming over like this… But, I guess it just worked out this way." He nodded his head once, and still kept that half-smirk of his on his face.

A few awkward moments passed by until his voice stopped the silence. "So, would you like to come inside? Like I said, I love company.." The voice that came out of his mouth didn't exactly sound like his own. It was much deeper, and raspier. More, dare I say, manly. But, I didn't think it would be someone else's voice, obviously, because it was coming from him. But, still, there was something much different about it. It only made me more curious about him.

"U-um. I guess a few minutes wouldn't hurt. But I've got to get home and change soon, because I'm tired of smelling like popcorn. But I guess that's what working at the movie theatre will get you." I couldn't believe that I actually said that out loud. I didn't want him to know I worked at the movie theatre, because it was a minimum wage job, and he worked as a hot-shot psychiatrist. But, why was I so worried about he would think of me? I never had that problem with other people before. It was like high school all over again, and I was the obsessed girl who had the biggest crush on the quarterback of the varsity football team, even though I knew I had no chance with him. But, I couldn't possibly have a crush on Jonathan yet, I had only met the guy the week before. I suppose I was rushing things.

"Excellent." He said with a small smile. "Ladies first.." He lifted his hand and pointed to the house. I hesitated, but then my legs decided to move towards the door, with him closely behind. I awkwardly opened his door, which he held open for me and I slowly stepped through the door. As I heard him close the door behind him, I decided to look around his house. It was even more beautiful from the inside than the outside. He had matching furniture, a fireplace, and tall shelves of books beside it. After seeing this, I hoped that he would never set foot inside my house, for it was not nearly as put together as his. But, I guess being a psychiatrist has its awards.

He walked up slowly behind me, and put his arm around my shoulders. My head snapped up towards him when I felt his hand on me. He looked down at me and smiled genuinely.

"Please, take a seat and make yourself at home." So, I followed his suggestion, and I took a seat in the nearest chair. I hadn't felt that awkward and nervous since as long as I could remember. "Would you care for something to drink? I've got water, tea, and wine."

I shook my head slowly as I continued to stare at the ground. "No thank you. I'm not thirsty…" I couldn't get myself to look up at him for some reason. Maybe it was because I knew he was staring at me with those eyes of his, which were like daggers piercing right through my own.

I saw him nod once in the corner of my eyes as he turned to enter the kitchen. "Very well. I'll just get some for myself then."

I finally looked up once I knew he was out of the room. I figured the awkward atmosphere would've went out of the room with him, but I was wrong. It was even worse now that I was alone. Now I wanted him back in there with me.

I had sat there for at least ten minutes, and he still wasn't back. How long did it take to pour something to drink? I knew it was a bad idea to snoop around a some-what stranger's house, but I was curious to see where he had gone to. I stood up from my seat, and entered the kitchen, where I discovered that he wasn't there.

"Jonathan? Where did you go?" I waited for a few moments for a response, which I didn't get. I decided to open the door that led out of the kitchen and into the dining room. When I did enter the room, I could hear some distant mumbling, and it sounded much like the voice I heard earlier from outside the window. He sounded so distressed and annoyed. Did he get another phone call? Curious, I walked towards the door where his voice was coming from, and leaned against it, listening in to the conversation.

"No! Not yet. I have to get to know her first… I have to know what she fears before I can test her.." Who was 'she'? And why did he want to know what they feared? I continued to listen.

"_C'mon Johnny-boy. It's been a week! Don't you think you've had enough time to 'get to know her'? And why do you want to get to know her anyway? Do you have a crush on her?" _That was the deeper and raspier voice. Maybe he had his phone on speaker?

"Of course not, who do you think I am? Cupid? No! I just…need more time. At least a month. Give me one month." He said with a somewhat pleading tone.

The deeper voice gave a loud sigh. "_Fine! One month. No more! After that, I'll do it myself! Okay_?"

"Yeah, yeah…one month! Gotcha.. Now, I've got to get back to her before she wonders where I am. We'll talk more later."

Since I was so into the conversation, I didn't realize that my hand was on the handle. I suddenly felt the handle turn, and the door open. My eyes widened when I saw him in the door way. I didn't want him to know that I was snooping on his conversation.

"Um, I'm so sorry. I can explain… See, I was wondering where you went, so I came to find you. Then I heard you talking.. and I couldn't help to listen in onto the conversation."

He looked down at me, his eyes widening a bit when I said I heard the conversation. But, like the other times, he painted a smirk on his face. "It's alright. You were just curious, that's all. I apologize for abandoning you… I had to.. call someone." He then walked away from the door and back into the kitchen, with me following close behind.

I sighed deeply as I stopped in the doorway of the kitchen. "Oh, well, I heard that you tell them that you had to go because I was here. So, if you want me to leave, I will. I have things to do anyway before I go to bed." He turned back towards me, with a smirk still on his face.

"Only if you wish. But, I do have some unfinished business to take care of. Perhaps we could, try again tomorrow?" He said softly as he took a step towards me. I nodded once.

"Tomorrow sounds fine. Would you like me to come over again?" I asked with a small smile on my face.

His smirk grew a little bit as he took another small step towards me. "Well, actually. I was hoping you would invite me to your place, now that you're settled in." My cheeks automatically turned red. I didn't exactly want him seeing my house after I'd seen his. But, if he really wanted to come over, I guess it would be his fault to see my not so made up house.

"Um, if you insist. But, just a warning, it's not made up quite like your house, for I still have some setting up to do, and unpacking to finish." I said, looking down at my feet with slight embarrassment.

"That's alright. I'm sure it's a charming little place. I'm sure looking forward to spending more time with you." He said as he took one last step towards me. At that point, he had to look down at me, and I had to look up. He was so tall, I looked like a midget compared to him.

I gave him a small but polite smile. "Alright, Jonathan, I shall see you tomorrow, then." I then walked towards the living room and towards the front door, with him following close behind.

"Until then, Angela." He said with one last smirk on his face. I gave him a smile of my own before I turned to leave his magnificent house, and headed towards my rinky-dink one.

I knew I had a lot to clean up, so I decided to get started that night. I just wanted to impress him, even though I thought he had no interest in me. Maybe, just maybe, I could change his mind.

**A/N: Well, I hope you liked this chapter. It took me like all day to write it, so you better have liked it! If not, I'll have the Joker tell you a little story about how he got his scars ;) Haha. **

**Please leave a review! I LIVE off of them, so please, give me moooore! And tell me any suggestions you have for me about the story. I'd love to hear them! I want this story to be good for you guys. But again, don't be rude about them. **

**P.S. I'm going to start having a question of the day, just because I feel like it. So, first question isssss:**

**What is your favorite movie?**

**Post your answer in the reviews :D**

**Have a good day, loves :D**


	4. In Time

**A/N: Thank you so much for those of you who reviewed my last chapter, and gave me positive comments. :D It's greatly appreciated. I'll send Johnny over to give you a greaaaaat big hug :D **

**Johnny: Uh, no I won't. **

**Me: Uhh, yes you will! Don't mouth off to me!**

**Johnny: Make me! *sticks his tongue out***

**Me: Why you…*Chases after him but calls back to you* Enjoy this next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jonathan Crane or anyone else who might be used in this story, except for Angela… blah. blah. blah.**

**In Time**

It was the late afternoon, and Jonathan had still not called me. Was he busy with something else? Did he forget about me? I hoped not, because I had spent all day cleaning up my house. I had at least ten boxes that had not been unpacked, so I decided to shove them in the closet until I could get to them after he left. I hoped I didn't waste my time. But, why was I so frantic about having a perfectly spotless house? Maybe it was because I wanted my house to resemble his, even though his was a mansion compared to mine. And I didn't have matching furniture, or a nice, big fireplace in my living room, or a flat screen television. All I had was two mix-matched love seats, a recliner, and a twenty-five inch square television that I had once gotten at a garage sale for twenty bucks. But, I hoped it was enough.

I then heard my phone go off, blasting the chorus of 'Another Brick in the Wall' by Pink Floyd. I rushed over to it, hoping it would be Jonathan explaining where he had been. But, I was disappointed to see 'Mom' flash across the screen. With a sigh, I answered the phone.

"Hello?" I said with a depressed tone. She had called me every day since I moved there. Hearing her voice was getting kind of old.

"Hello, sweetheart! How are you doing? It's been a long time!" She said in an enthusiastic voice.

"Mom, it hasn't even been twenty four hours since we've talked. Don't you have something else to do?"

"Well, no not really. Not until five, at least. I'm getting my nails done! Isn't that exciting?" I heard her give me one of her girlish giggles.

I rolled my eyes slightly and gave my best fake cheery tone. "Yeah, mom! That's great! Maybe I should go with you sometime."

I could just see her face at that moment, almost crying tears of joy. "Oh, that would be just fantastic! I'll take you next time I go!"

I gave her a sigh, and mumbled softly. Apparently she didn't get my sarcasm. "Yeah, great. I'm looking forward to it."

"So, honey. Have you found any guys you're interested in?" I heard another giggle.

My heart skipped a beat. What do I tell her? Do I lie to her? She'll only make me explain what he's like, and to be honest, he wasn't an easy person to explain. But, I decided not to lie to her. After all, she was my mother. And the only girl I've talked to in almost two weeks. I had to tell someone about him.

I cleared my throat before I spoke again. "Well, yes. There is. His name's Jonathan, and he lives right across the street from me. He's really nice."

She let out a gasp. She was probably bouncing off the walls with joy. "Oh, honey! That's wonderful! Is he hot?"

I was glad I was having this conversation over the phone, because my face was probably red as an apple, and she would only make it worse if she saw me at that moment. "Um, yeah. I guess you could say he's… h-hot." I could barely spit out that last word.

"Oh, sweetie! I'm going to have to meet him when I come up there to visit!" I could hear her clap her hands with happiness in the background.

My eyes widened. I didn't want her to meet him! What if she would tell him something about my embarrassing child hood? Show him naked baby pictures of me? No, I couldn't deal with that.

"Um, I'm not sure if that'll happen. He's a very busy man. He works as a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. He's barely home for me to talk to." That was sort of true, but it seemed like he was home a lot more often than a psychiatrist should. Maybe he doesn't have that many patients.

"Oh, but I'm sure he'd want to meet his girlfriend's mother, am I right?"

I couldn't help but giggle at the fact that she thought Jonathan and I were dating. But, it was very embarrassing at the same time. "Mom, he's not my boyfriend! We've only known each other for a week. Besides, I wouldn't doubt that he was seeing someone else. Although, he's never mentioned much about his personal life."

She gave a little sigh. "Well, maybe if you two get to know each other well enough, maybe you'll start dating! And maybe even get married. Oh, you know how much I want grandchildren! And I don't want to wait until I'm a hundred to have them!"

My face flushed once more. "Well, I hate to tell you, mom, but I don't think I'm having children anytime soon. To be honest, I'm not sure if I want children at all." Why were we talking about this? The thought about having children with Jonathan was both extremely awkward and unbelievable.

"Angela, honey. Sometimes, it just doesn't matter if you plan to have children or not. Sometimes, it just, happens. God will give you children if he thinks you'll be able to take care of them."

I rolled my eyes. God didn't even exist. I always thought to myself, if there was a God, then my father wouldn't have died. He wouldn't have taken my best friend from me. "Mom, you know how I feel whenever you talk about…Him."

"I know honey, but I just wish you could understand that everything happens for a reason. He has a reason for everything."

I clinched my fist in anger, but I tried my hardest not to blow up on her. "Mom, just drop it. Please."

She gave me a sigh, and cleared her throat. "Alright, sweetheart. I'm sorry. I won't talk about it anymore."

Tears were beginning to form in my eyes, like every other time I thought about my Papa Bear. "It's alright." I also cleared my throat, and started to make myself some coffee. A few awkward silent moments went by before I heard the doorbell ring. I could see a tall figure stand behind the glass window of the door. My heart skipped a beat, and a freakishly large grin appeared on my face. It had to be him. I was so excited, I had almost forgotten that I was on the phone with my mother. I couldn't let her know that he was coming over. Very rarely would I ever lie to my mother, but I made an exception this time.

"Um, mom. I've gotta go… Someone is at the door. I think it might be UPS or something." My voice was clearly shaking, but she didn't notice.

"Alright, sweetheart. I'll give you a call later and tell you all about my nail appointment."

"Yeah, alright. Fine. Bye, mom." I hung up the phone without hearing a goodbye from her, but I didn't care. I was too nervous to care about anything, except about impressing him. Why was I so obsessed with impressing him?

I slowly approached the door. I took a few seconds to recollect my thoughts, and painted a soft smile across my face so I didn't look as nervous as I was. Then, with my shaking hands, I turned the knob and opened the door. He stood there with a solid look on his face. He didn't look too happy. I must've looked stupid to him, because once I saw him, because that soft looking smile I had, automatically turned into a large grin.

I had stood there for a good twenty seconds before he lifted an eyebrow in confusion at my stupid grin, and looked over me to look inside the house. "Um, may I come in?" He said in a soft, low voice.

I blinked a couple of times, and the freakish smile disappeared. I felt so stupid, I wished someone would have come up to me and hit my face with a book. I nodded my head slowly and stepped to the side.

"Yes, I'm sorry. Of course you can. Please, excuse the mess. I was in the middle of cleaning." I said that, even though my house was as spotless as I could get it. I was just nervous about him seeing my house. "Would you like some coffee? I just made it."

He shook his head and adjusted his glasses. Those glasses just made him look so much cuter. "Um, no thank you. I don't drink caffeine after three o'clock."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Alright. " I went back into the kitchen to get my coffee, and came back out into the living room to find him already on the love seat. I tapped my fingers against the mug nervously, and slowly sat down on the other love seat. I thought deeply about how I wanted to start a conversation. Then it hit me. Maybe I could ask him about his job and his 'research'. Hopefully he wouldn't get too upset if I asked him.

I took a deep breath in and exhaled before I began talking. "So, Jonathan. You mentioned something about 'research' last week. What kind of research are you doing?"

His head quickly snapped up towards me, and he gave me a slight smirk, which made me smile. He then stood up from the love seat, and started to walk around the living room, with his back turned towards me. He then turned towards me with an even bigger grin.

"You seem a little nervous, Angela." He said. "A little… on edge. Are you alright?" The concern in his voice almost sounded fake, and it didn't help that he was smiling.

I jerked my head towards him, his daggers for eyes were piercing right through me, like always. He must have been able to read my mind. Or the fact that I was trying so hard to hide my nervousness, it showed even worse. I sighed deeply. "Um, well. To be honest, yes. I am kind of nervous." My voice broke slightly at the end of the sentence. I was so embarrassed of myself.

He let out a light chuckle as he walked towards me, his voice becoming softer. "And, why is that? Is it because you're…afraid that something… might happen?" He emphasized the word 'afraid' more than need be. It made me even more nervous.

I sat my coffee mug on the in-table beside me, and folded my hands together to keep them from shaking again. I could barely look at him.

"Well, um. I-I was nervous that you…you wouldn't like my house." My voice got softer as I ended the sentence. He probably thought I was the stupidest person in the world. I'm sure I was.

He slowly painted a large, pleased smile on his face, which confused me greatly. Did it make him happy that I was nervous? I was so confused.

He let out a soft snicker. "You amuse me, Angela. That's what I like that about you." He walked closer over to me. He was like a skyscraper compared to me at that moment. "I could help you. You see, I work with people like you. It sounds as though you have a few symptoms of anxiety. But, of course I won't give you a full diagnosis."

My facial expression went from confused to angry. How dare he tell me I had anxiety issues? I was perfectly fine. I was just a regular woman trying to impress a man I'm interested in. I didn't know that gave me anxiety issues. I rolled my eyes at him. My hands were shaking, but out of pure anger.

"You know, you have no right to give me a diagnosis without my permission! I'm just fine! Besides, you don't know what the hell I've been through! So, if I _do _have issues, it's because I have a reason!"

My breathing had picked up, and I realized that I was standing on my feet at that moment. I was very upset. I couldn't believe what was happening.

He looked down at me, with that smug look on his face. That look of his would make anyone else even more upset if they were in my situation, but it only calmed me down. It was strange. Shouldn't I have been fuming?

He raised his eyebrows, and the smugness disappeared from his face. "And, would you tell me what that reason is? You can trust me. I am a doctor after all."

My eyes flickered downward and I started to bite my bottom lip nervously. I'd never talked about father to anyone before. Not even my mother. I shook my head and looked back up to him.

"No, Jonathan. I can't talk about it right now. I don't think it's the right time. I'm sorry."

He nodded his head slightly. "Fair enough. You don't have to tell me now. But, like I said, I'm willing to help you."

I blinked and gave him a small smile of gratitude. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

He nodded once more towards me. "Well, this has been a..very interesting visit. But, I should really get going. I've got things to do. I'm sure we'll see each other…very soon."

I nodded my head slowly, walked towards the door, with him close behind, and opened it for him. "Bye, Jonathan."

He gave me a soft smile, and walked out the door.

As I watched him walk down my porch steps, a thought hit me. Wasn't I going to ask him about his 'research' he had mentioned? I gasped softly and walked down the steps after him.

"Jonathan. Wait! Before I forget, I want to ask you something."

He stopped as soon as he heard me chase after him, and he turned towards me. "What is it?"

I stepped towards a bit closer to him. "Well, it's just, when I first met you, you mentioned something about…this research of yours. And I was wondering if you were willing to tell me about it."

He let out a soft chuckle and nodded his head before turning away…

"In time….you will know."

I watched him walk away unsatisfied. I didn't want to know, 'in time'. I wanted to know. I wish I knew why he wouldn't tell me right then. I shook my head continuously as I climbed up the stairs and back into my house. This was going to be harder than I thought.

**A/N: I'm sorry for this chapter being a little shorter than that last, but no ideas were coming in mind, so I had to cut it short. But, I promise I'll try to make the next one longer!**

**P.S. I have thought about it, and I've come to a conclusion. I have decided to have the Joker come into this story. I'm not sure when, but he WILL be in it. So, for all you Joker lovers, get ready for some action ;D haha. **

**As for my favorite movie, I would have to say it's a tie between Batman Begins/Dark Knight (I consider them one movie because it's a series and one continues right after the other), and The Phantom of the Opera. It's just too amazing for words 3 **

**Now, for the new Question!**

**Who is your favorite actor? And why? (I know, boring question, but I'm freaking tired over here. I can't think! xD )**


	5. Trust

**A/N: So, I apologize for the shortness of the last chapter. I ran out of ideas for the chapter, so I had to cut it short. I'll try to do better, but I've just been kind of down and depressed lately, so nothing is coming to mind. But, once again, your kind words do wonders for my confidence. So thank you.**

**Again, I'm so glad that I'm getting good responses from all of you wonderful people :D And expect a lot of updates, because I just can't seem to stop writing chapters. It's slowly becoming an addiction of mine! xD**

**P.s. The beginning of this chapter is a little slow, but it'll pick up. And for all you people who are wondering when this story is taking place, it's during the events of The Dark Knight, but because Crane was caught at the beginning of the movie, I decided to pretend that he never got caught by Batman. So, just pretend with me xD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jonathan Crane or any other Batman characters. But Angela is all mine. **

**Trust**

I was never the type of person to be upset about anything for very long. I had learned to forgive and forget about everything. Well, almost everything. My father's death was an exception. I never forgot, and I never forgave. But, I didn't want to think about that right now. It only caused me to think about Jonathan and how he accused me of having anxiety issues. I knew that he was a doctor, and he was only trying to help, but before he could accuse me of anything, he had to know where I was coming from. But, I wasn't going to tell him about my past. Not yet.

It was beginning to become a normal routine of mine to stand in the kitchen in the mid-afternoon every day, drink coffee, and reflect upon my past. At this rate, if I didn't change, it was only a matter of time until I would snap and go insane from lack of social interaction. But, at least my only real source of interaction was with a psychiatrist. Wasn't I a lucky duck?

I poured out the rest of my cold coffee and rinsed the mug out. I let out a sigh of boredom, and headed outside to grab the mail. I walked out the front door, and walked down at the stairs. On my way back inside, I almost walked passed and didn't notice it, but it suddenly caught my eye. A bouquet of red roses with baby's breath was sitting on the ground next to the front door. At first I thought my mother sent it, because she was the only one who knew my favorite flowers. I saw that underneath the vase, was a little white envelope with my name on it, so I picked it up, opened it, and read it.

_Angela,_

_I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I'd like to make it up to you. I'll come over and pick you up at 6:30._

_Jonathan_

My mouth was wide open. I couldn't believe that he wanted to take me out. Was I supposed to consider this as a date? What was I supposed to wear? I hadn't been on a date since my junior year of high school, but we went to a burger joint and the movies.

I looked down at my watch, which read three-thirty. I had only three hours to get ready! As expected, my hands began to shake, and my heart beat picked up. I immediately rushed into my bedroom to find something to wear. Everything in my closet was either lounge wear to wear at home, or made me look like a teenager, for I hadn't went shopping for new clothes in so long. I decided with my brand new check from work, I would treat myself with a mini shopping spree.

I arrived at the mall and parked close to the entrance. I jumped out of the car, quickly locked it, and jogged to the entrance. I only had little time, and so many stores to visit. I went into the first store that caught my eye, which had several party dresses in the window. I went straight to the back where the clearance section was. I had always been frugal with my money, no matter how much I had. I instantaneously searched through the racks, having no luck whatsoever, but, I sighed and kept looking. I was getting too frustrated, so I decided to leave the store and not waste any more time. I was almost out of the store until I saw a strapless, red dress. It wasn't too flashy, nor would I look like my grandmother in it. With my luck, they had the perfect size for me. I snatched it up, and walked briskly to the fitting room.

Once I had it on, I turned to look at myself in the mirror. To my astonishment, I didn't look as atrocious as I thought I would. In fact, the dress was almost perfect for my body shape. It hugged every curve, and flattered my back side, and stopped at my mid-thigh. I thought about what Jonathan would think once he saw me, which made my cheeks turn a light pink. I just hoped it wasn't too much.

I dressed quickly back into my street clothes, jogged to the cash register, and flew out of the mall. I only had 2 hours left, and I had to do something with the rat's nest I called my hair.

Once I was back home, I immediately went to the bathroom to hook up the curling iron. I brushed out the tangles quickly, which only made my hair even more frizzy, but I didn't care. Once the iron was hot enough, I began to curl. I continuously glanced at the clock, which ticked by fairly quickly.

My dog tag necklace must have really been working its luck, because the curls of my hair sat on my shoulders perfectly. I smiled in satisfaction and worked on my makeup. I had a light layer of cover up and powder, thin eyeliner and mascara, and a light layer of pink lipstick after I brushed my teeth. I found a pair of dangly earrings, and a diamond necklace my mother bought for my birthday. Before I took off my dog tag necklace to put on the diamond one, I rubbed it thoroughly, and kissed it. I rubbed my lips together and stared at myself in the mirror. I hoped I looked good enough for him.

I paced back and forth for what seemed like an eternity, until I glanced upon the clock. It had finally read six-twenty five, which only gave me five minutes. I sprayed on my 'Pure Seduction' perfume from Victoria's Secret. I always felt pretty whenever I had it on. I then nervously stood by the door for the signal.

I had wondered over to the kitchen counter to smell the roses, which calmed me down. But the peacefulness was soon destroyed by thundering sound of the doorbell. My nerves were at all time high at that point. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to make a fool out of myself.

I then let out a sigh of frustration. How was I ever going to get anywhere unless I had more confidence? Jonathan had all the confidence in the world. I'm sure he thought that low self-esteem was unattractive. So, I took a deep breath in, and walked towards the door. If it was possible, I would have to fake having confidence. I took another moment to recollect myself, and then I opened the door.

He was standing in the doorway with his hands folded out in front of him like a gentlemen. Once I had opened the door, I could automatically smell the scent of cologne, which automatically made me smile. He had on a nice black suit, white button up shirt, red tie with coincidentally matched my dress. I watched as he briskly scanned his eyes up and down, and gave me one of his soft smirks.

We stood there staring at each other for a few more beats. He then looked away quickly and broke the silence, which for the first time, wasn't awkward.

"Well, we shouldn't stand here all night. I've made reservations." He then stepped to the side to let me out of the house. "Ladies first."

I gave him a sincere smile as I stepped out of my house and locked my door. I walked down the steps, my heels clicking each time they hit the ground. I was sure that I was going to end up taking them off before the night was over.

As always, he was close behind, and before I went to reach the door handle, he beat me to it, and he opened it for me. I stood there for a moment, and quietly said a 'thank you' before I stepped in. He climbed into his own side and started the car. Before he pulled out, he looked over at me, who looked nervous as always.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

I slowly turned my head towards him to meet his gaze, his eyes were hypnotizing. I stared into them, causing me to lose my trace of thought. I then blinked a couple of times, and nodded my head slowly, turning away from him. I hoped that it wouldn't be like this the whole night.

The car ride wasn't long, but it seemed like an eternity. I didn't know what to say, so I let him begin a conversation. But, he never said anything either. All we would do is look at each other a few times, and every time I would stare into his eyes. They were just so irresistible, it was impossible not to look into them. I hope he didn't find it creepy.

A quiet sigh of relief escaped my lips when we pulled into the parking lot. Maybe we would actually talk once we got inside.

He helped me out of the car like the gentleman he was, and closed it behind me. I pulled down my dress, and began to walk in beside him. He moved closer to me as we approached the door so he could open it for me. I couldn't believe how polite he was being. If he wanted me to accept his apology, he was on very good terms with me at that point.

Once we were inside, there was a large line of people in front of us. I rolled my eyes and sighed. My feet were already killing me, and we had to stand in line. We looked at each other at the same time, and he gave me a sly smile. He had a plan, which confused me. He slowly slipped his arm around my waist, which caused me to jump, bringing me closer to him as he walked me up to the man at the podium.

The man stopped us and gave us a scowl. "Excuse me, sir. You cannot cut in front of these people. Go to the back of the line and please wait your turn."

Jonathan cleared his throat as he leaned in towards the man. "My wife and I have been waiting for two hours now, and tonight is our first anniversary. I made reservations earlier today. It's under Doctor Jonathan Crane."

I looked up at him, trying not to laugh. I whispered up at him. "Why did you call me your wife?"

He smirked and looked down at me. "Because these people will fall for anything. Just watch."

The man searched through his clipboard of reservations and quickly snapped his head towards Jonathan and spoke in a nervous stutter. "D-Doctor Crane, I apologize for the inconvenience, we've had a very busy schedule today, and we must have overlooked your reservation. I'll have someone seat you two right away."

He called behind him at the young waiter who was heading towards the kitchen. "Louis, seat these two please."

"Sure thing, boss." He nodded and smiled towards me, and grabbed two menus. When he looked back up, he looked over to Jonathan. The joyous facial expression on his face immediately switched to fear. It made me confused. "F-Follow me, p-please.." He slowly turned around and walked towards where we would be sitting.

He swiftly brought us to our tables, apprehensively threw the menus on the table and walked briskly away. With a scowl on my face, I hesitantly sat down. Jonathan, however, looked quite amused. Why did he find nervous people so amusing?

I looked down at the menu to find the least expensive item. Everything on here was either in a different language, or outside my budget. I gave out a loud sigh. I felt a pair of eyes on me.

"You know I'm paying for you, right? Get anything you want." He said. Could he read minds too?

My eyes flickered towards him, and I nodded slowly. I didn't want him to pay for me. The only person who has ever paid for me was my mother. It just didn't feel right.

I watched, in the corner of my eyes, him shake his head. I could guess that he could see that I was anxious. How could he be so laid back about everything? I guess a man with his looks had been a plenty of dates. I was probably number twenty-something. And this was just a pity date.

With the negative thoughts rushing through my head, it only made me feel worse. I felt like such a loser. I needed help with self-esteem issue I had. I decided that I would start by getting out of my comfort zone. I had to do it sometime.

"Do you know why that Louis guy was so afraid of you? Do you know him?" I asked. I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was so strange.

His cold blue eyes snapped up as he heard the name. He cleared his throat and nodded slowly.

"His mother is a patient of mine at Arkham. He would come in sometimes and visit, but stopped as soon as he saw something..he shouldn't have." His voice trailed off at the end of the sentence.

"What 'something' are you talking about? Does it have something to do with your research?" I asked as I took a sip of water.

"Yes." He said bluntly.

I slowly looked down slowly at my glass of water. I was going to ask more, but I decided to drop the subject. A faint awkwardness began to creep back into the air, until he broke the silence between us.

"How about we get out of here? The service is terrible here. We can go back to my place." He gave me a sincere smile.

At first I wasn't sure why he said that, but I nodded anyway in agreement, and stood up from my chair. I wasn't really hungry anyway. He slowly approached my side and slipped him arm around my waist, which sent butterflies to rattle in my stomach.

We arrived shortly back to his house. Once inside, I immediately invited myself to sit on couch I sat on last time. I looked up to find Jonathan not in the room, so I assumed he was in the kitchen. A few minutes of peaceful silence went by until he came back with two glasses of red wine. Although my twenty-first birthday wasn't until another month, I didn't argue.

He handed me the glass, and I took a sip. I made a disgusted look on my face, and I slowly sat the glass down on the coffee table. It was the nastiest wine I've ever had. But, I didn't tell him.

He let out a sigh as he sat across the room from me, and immediately glued his eyes on me. He stared at me for a good amount of time, as if trying to figure out what I was thinking. He was good at knowing what I was thinking. But, maybe that was because I gave it away by my hands shaking and chewing my bottom lip. I suddenly looked up to meet his gaze. I wish I knew what he was thinking. The mind of a psychiatrist must be the most interesting one. The things he must go through at work must make an impact. It sure would for me.

"Jonathan, what exactly do you do at Arkham? What kind of patients do you have?" I asked randomly.

He hesitated to answer at first, but then leaned forward towards before he answered. "I specialize in the fears of my patients."

I stifled a soft laughed, but tried to keep myself quiet. Of course he would say that, he gets amused by people being nervous. I bet that's why he keeps me around, I thought to myself humorously.

"You see, I believe fear is a powerful emotion, and can control what a person does, feels, and thinks. Of course, patients at Arkham are afraid of everything and anything. Or they might think they're afraid of something. It's hard to tell, because their mental health is so unstabalized." He gave a little shrug.

I nodded my head, for I had no reply for him. I knew fear could be a powerful emotion, for it could change a person forever in a split second. But, so could other emotions. Why was he so attracted to fear?

He gave me another one of his icy blue stare downs before he broke the silence. "What are you afraid of, Angela?"

I knew he would ask me this question sometime, but for some reason I wasn't prepared to answer it. Most people were afraid of spiders, or snakes, or scorpions. I was afraid of those things too, but they didn't absolutely terrify me. There was only thing to me that completed horrified me.

"Heights." I said bluntly. This might sound a little weird, but ever since I fell out of my apple tree when I was ten years old and broke my arm, my feet have never left the ground. Just the thought of being off the ground made me sick. He gave me a smile of satisfaction, which I expected.

"Interesting." He said quietly, giving me one of his smug looks, which didn't bother me.

"Yeah." I replied just as softly.

He then stood up slowly, and walked over to the loveseat I was sitting on. He slowly invited himself to sit down beside me. It took me by surprise, but it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would.

"Angela. Would you be willing to tell me what makes you so….nervous all the time? You told me…that you had a reason." He quietly asked me, while leaning in closer to me.

My hazel eyes slowly looked up at him. The light from the flickering candles were shining in his eyes, making them irresistible to me once more. For a few seconds, it was as if I fell under a spell each time I looked into them. I wouldn't know where I was, or what I was thinking. All I would know is that I was there, alone, with him. I then blinked a couple of times, slowly coming back into reality. I sighed deeply, hesitating to answer. I had to tell someone sometime. I couldn't keep it hidden forever.

"It's not that I have nerve issues… It's just that…. I have trust issues." I closed my eyes and paused before going on. "My father left to go to the army when I was 6. He told me that he would come back, but he never did. Now, I can't hardly trust anyone when they say 'they'll be back soon.' So, I guess you could say I have a mild case of anxiety issues." I gave out a quiet laugh and opened my eyes to look at him.

He nodded slowly. "I had guessed that you had some sort of trust issues, I just wanted to know the source of the problem. Like I said, I can help you." He gave me a small smile. For the first time, it wasn't a sarcastic smirk, or a smug look. It looked like a genuine smile. Maybe he does care, he just doesn't show it. I knew it was time to get over something that happened over 14 years ago, I just never knew how. But then the opportunity had shown up, and I was not about to pass it up.

"Thank you. I appreciate it." I said with a soft smile.

"You were close to your father, weren't you?" He asked.

I nodded my head slightly. "Yeah. He was my best friend. My protector. My whole world. And then he left me.. He left me to defend for myself. Of course I had my mother with me, but she didn't understand things the same way my father did. I could never bring myself to talk to her much, because it would only make me miss him more. I know it broke her heart, but I just couldn't do it." It was unbelievable that I was telling him this. I was never comfortable about talking about my past to anyone. But, he was different. He listened to me, and I could tell that he cared. And that's all I wanted.

"What about you? What was your childhood like?" I asked out of curiosity.

He stiffened as his eyes grew wider as he delayed his answer. "My father died when I was very young. My mother wasn't even around when I was growing up, so my grandmother had to take me in, and let's just say, I would have rather grown up alone then with her." He broke the gaze as he looked away from me, his eyes growing dimmer.

I started to feel a little guilty when I listened to him. I might have lost my father, but at least I still had a loving mother to count on. He had basically nothing. I felt stupid.

"I-I'm sorry" I softly spit out. I truly was.

He shook his head slowly, clinching his fists tightly. "Don't be. I don't need anyone's pity." He said sharply.

I watched as his knuckles turned white. I knew I made a mistake for asking. I immediately began to feel uncomfortable. Maybe this was a good time to leave. I slowly began to stand up. He immediately looked up at me.

"Well, I really should get going. It's pretty late, and I've got work tomorrow." I said in a shaky voice. I had to get out of there before he exploded.

He suddenly stood up after me and looked down at me. "I apologize. I usually don't get upset, but that was sort of a touchy subject of mine."

I slowly looked down at the ground. "Me too" I softly muttered. It looked as if we both had something in common.

He slowly turned his body towards mine, stepping closer to me. He slowly brought his hand to my chin, lifting my head so I was looking up at him. He slowly inched his face towards mine. I was too caught off guard to move, and it didn't help that I was mesmerized by his crystal blue orbs for eyes. The room was filled with pure silence, except for the sound of my heart beating loudly in my ears. His lips were a mere inch away from mine before he paused, which only created the suspense to become larger. Then, in a blink of an eye, his lips softly pressed against mine. The shock that was sent through my body was indescribable. A firey sensation was burning in my stomach, as the butterflies turned into elephants. I had kissed plenty guys in my lifetime, but none made me feel the way Jonathan's kiss did. It was as if I was floating on a cloud. I didn't want it to end. It was the best feeling in the whole world.

After what seemed like ages, Jonathan pulled away with another one of his smirks painted on his face. It took me a couple of seconds to recollect my thoughts until I could speak again.

"W-What was that for?" I asked with a slight stutter.

He gave out a stifled chuckle. "That was to make sure we were on the same page."

His response made me smile. Before that moment happened, I was afraid that I was going to leave him again on a bad note, but it totally turned my night around. Every girl had said at least once in their life time that they were the luckiest girl in the world, but at that very moment, I truly felt like I was. There was nothing that could have happened to me that would have changed what I felt.

"Well, I'm sure you already know by now that we are." I gave him one of my own smirks.

I then let out a little sigh when I looked over at the wall clock, which read ten-thirty. I didn't want to go home, but I knew if I was going to survive the next morning, I would have to. I looked back over to Jonathan who had been staring at me the whole time.

"I have to go, or else I'm not going to be able to get up tomorrow." I then bent down to grab my purse and headed towards the door, with him close behind, as always. He reached over me to open the door for me, and before I walked out, I turned back to him. "Goodnight, Jonathan."

He gave me a tiny smile and bent down to kiss my cheek, which made my cheeks turn a rosy color. "Goodnight, Angela."

As the door closed behind me when I walked out, I leaned against the door and let out a sigh of satisfaction.

I then began to head back home, thinking over and over about the kiss. I know it sounds impossible, crazy, but I knew the feelings I had for Jonathan were more than just a crush that you would have on someone in junior high. These feelings were beginning to seem real to me. I couldn't keep him out of my thoughts. Everything I did reminded me of him. He was always there. At that moment, I knew I was insane. Insanely in love.

**A/N: Now, I know it's very unheard of for someone to fall in love in less than a month, but it's just a story. xD Deal with it! Haha. Now, anyway, I hope you liked the fact that they spent the whole chapter together (which is over 4,000 words long! Hooray!) **

**Alright, my answer to the question is really hard. I thought about it, and I have to say it's a five way tie between:**

**Gerard Butler**

**Heath Ledger**

**Johnny Depp**

**Cillian Murphy**

**Anthony Hopkins**

**They're all just so amazing, and every performance they put on, just makes me smile. I just love them all to pieces :3**

**Now, next question!**

**If you could go on a date with any Batman character, who would it be, and why? (This questions is mostly for girls, but guys can answer too xD)**

**P.S. You guys should really check out "Epic Rap Battles of History" on youtube. I listen to them every time I write a chapter. They keep me motivated. So do Disney songs. xD Alright, farewell my friends! See you soon! **


	6. Confusion

**A/N: Woo! 22 reviews! :D And two story favorites :D I feel so loved! Tee hee! Oh, and you guys are in for a surprise in this chapter, as for the first time, you're gonna see Jonathan's POV (And in first person!) I was gonna do it last chapter, but I forgot! Please tell me if you'd like to see some more in the future! And, there's another surprise in this chapter, but I'm not gonna mention it ;) Alright! Enjoy!**

**Answer to the last question: The one character I would love to go on a date with would probably be the Joker. Only cause he's funny, and I like guys who can make me laugh :D**

**P.S. At the end of this chapter, there's gonna be some frisky business ;) It isn't a lemon. Maybe a tinsy bit of a lime though. ;D haha. And I apologize if Crane/Scarecrow seems OOC to you. I'm not sure how they would interact with one another, so I'm just gonna bull crap it. **

**Confusion**

_Jonathan's POV_

"_Congratulations, Johnny-boy! It's been exactly one month, and you have gotten little Angie to fall in love with you!" Scarecrow said in a rather cheery voice._

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Do I get my brownie points?" I said sarcastically. I really had no time for him at that moment.

"_Oh, lighten up, Johnny, I'm just messin' with you." He said with a deep chuckle._

"Scarecrow, I really don't have time for this right now. I don't need you to cause me any more stress. Can you just lay off for a while?"

"_Why?" _He asked cunningly. "_Is it because of miss angel-lips?" _

"Well, I wouldn't say that. Working at Arkham isn't exactly a walk in the park, you know."

"_Yes, I know. But is that my fault? You're the one who chose the profession. Not me." _

I let out a sigh of frustration. "You're really starting to get on my nerves."

He chuckled darkly. "_I'm sorry. Maybe I should just disappear, and be gone from your life forever. Maybe your stress with disappear with me!" He said in sarcastic manner. "But, think about it. You wouldn't be in this position without me. I've helped you throughout this whole process. I gave you some pointers on how to win the girl's affection. And now you have her in your trap. And it's all because of me." _

"Scarecrow, why on earth would I want to win her affection? I have no desire to be with a woman. This was mostly your idea. I just went along with it to shut you up." At least, I thought that was true.

"_Johnny, you just don't get it, do you? That little mind of Angie's is capable of doing more things than you think. She even has a mind that she doesn't even know she has."_

"How do you know that?"

"_Just by the way she interacts with you. The way she's trying to get inside your head. She knows there's something else you're not telling her. And she's going to try everyway she can to figure it out." _

"I hope you're right, Scarecrow. You know how I feel about wasting time on things."

"_Oh, you and I both know that Angie's not a waste of time." He snickered darkly._

"What on earth do you mean by that?"

"_Johnny, you tend to forget that I live inside your head. I've seen what you dream about, and let me tell you, it would not be for children." He snickered._

My eyes widened, clearing my throat in embarrassment. Perhaps he was right. I did have some feelings for Angela. She was sophisticated, smart, and not to mention beautiful. Of course, she had her extremely annoying moments with her insane anxiety issues, but she was one of the very few people that I knew who thought like me. She liked to try to get inside people's heads, and that's what I liked most about her.

"_It's a win-win situation. If you take her, she'll be a good test subject, and she'll help you in… other ways. If you know what I mean." He chuckled darkly._

I sighed deeply. "Alright, Scarecrow. I'll do it soon. I promise."

_Angela's POV_

I had received my third check since I had gotten the job at the movie theatre, and I figured it was time to start a bank account here in Gotham. I had a hard time picking a bank, but I finally decided to settle for Gotham National Bank.

Once inside, I couldn't help but stare at the scenery. It was by far the biggest bank I had ever been in. The inside looked like the lobby of a five star hotel. It was beautiful. I then sighed and shook my head. I guess anything would look huge in a city like Gotham, especially coming from a small town of 1,000 people or less.

I looked around for an empty teller's booth, and spotted the first one. I hesitated at first, but then slowly walked up to the well-dressed man in the booth.

"How can I help you, miss?" He said in a pleasing tone while smiling with his perfectly white and straight teeth.

I gave him a meek smile as I quietly answered. "Um, hi. I'd like to open an account, please."

He nodded once as he turned towards his computer. I looked around awkwardly at the people around me while waiting.

"Alright, I'm going to need your name, date of birth, and social security number, please."

I nodded as I recited those three things, watching him as he typed them in the computer. I wonder if he ever got tired of doing the same thing all day, every day for a living.

I let out a small sigh as he continued to type in information of mine. Twenty minutes had already passed by, and he still wasn't finished. I never knew it would take this long to set up a bank account. I was a person with little patience, and it was running out.

At last, he typed in the last of the information, and I was finally free to go. But, as soon as I turned around, something took me by complete surprise.

Gunshots filled the entire room as three men with clown masks ran about. I had never been involved with a bank robbery. In fact, I had never seen an act of violence. This was all new to me, and extremely frightening.

"Alright, everybody, hands up heads down. I said hands up, heads down!" Said the first clown.

I too numb to even move. My heart was thumping through my ears, and the room was spinning. I felt sick to my stomach, and extremely nauseous. I then felt something poke my side, which gave me a wake up call. I heard muffled screams and demands, but couldn't understand what they were saying. As the words slowly started to become clear, they sounded closer than before, as if blasting right into my ears.

"Hey, lady! Get down on the ground! Now!" I then felt a sharp pain in my ribs. I looked over to see what it was, and to my complete astonishment, a gun was pressing against me. My eyes slowly widened and I let out a blood curdling scream as the man pushed the gun so hard against me, it caused me to fall backwards. Once he made sure I wasn't going to get up, he briskly ran away.

As tears began to flow down my cheeks, I slowly brought myself to my knees to scoot back so I could sit against the wall. I looked around with my blurred vision, only to see the numerous lifeless and motionless bodies scattered around, which only made me cry worse.

"Please let this be over soon… Please….. Please..." I softly muttered to myself, with tears running down my cheeks. This was a living nightmare. I just wished that I could wake myself up.

I suddenly heard a glass window shatter close by me, caused by a gunshot, which shot down one of the clowns. A man, the manager I assumed, slowly revealed himself, with a shotgun in his hands.

"Do you have any idea who you're stealing from? You and your friends are dead! C'mon, you bastards! Get out!" He yelled out towards the clowns, shooting the gun once more at the clowns.

"He's out, right?" I heard one clown mutter to the one beside him, to which the other one nodded his head vigorously. He followed his word, and jumped up quickly. The manager quickly pulled the trigger, barely missing him. The other clown then quickly popped up, and shot at the manager, taking him down.

"Where did _you _learn to count?" The other clown called out, to which he didn't answer. Next, they brought in the stolen bags of money, and piled them up. "That's a lot of money." The clown continued "If this Joker guy was so smart, he would've had us bring a bigger car." He then took out his gun, and pointed it towards the other clown."I'm betting the Joker told you to kill me as soon as we loaded the cash. Am I right?"

The other clown the let out a sigh, and shook his head. "No, no no no. I killed the _bus _driver."

"Bus driver?" The clown questioned. "What bus driver?"

Then, in a split second, a bright yellow school bus crashed right into the bank, running over the clown with the gun. My eyes then looked towards the remaining clown, interacting with one that came out of the bus. Then, in a blink of an eye, the bus clown was shot down by the other one, then continued putting the rest of the money bags in the bus. I was confused as to why they were killing each other.

My question was shortly answered when the manager called out to the clown before he climbed onto the bus. I couldn't understand what they were saying to each other at first, so the curious me took over as I crawled over closer to the two. I managed to catch the end of the conversation.

"I believe, whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you…" A short, eerier paused occurred as the clown reached up and took off his mask. I sat there in utter shock when I saw who was under the mask. He had badly face paint on, which was badly smeared. His hair was a dirty, greasy blonde with a sickening greenish-tint added to it. This man looked incredibly insane. And for a strange reason, I knew that this was not the last of him. This was only the beginning.

He then got up from the ground, and made his way over to the bus. Then, before he climbed onto it, he turned around to examine the bank once more. He then scanned his eyes over towards me, locking his eyes with mine. The way he stared me down made me feel sick to my stomach. He looked as if he recognized me from somewhere, but how? He then gave me a twisted smirk, winked at me, and climbed onto the bus.

As I watched the bus drive away, I couldn't help but to feel numb and thoughtless. I had no idea what had just happened, or why, but I was utterly terrified. But, there was only one thing to do, and that was to go to the person who I felt safe with. Jonathan.

_Joker's POV_

One of the henchmen came up to the clown prince of crime hesitantly, as if he was frightened to speak up to him, but he meekly opened his mouth anyway.

"Sir, who was that lady back there you were looking at?" He asked with a shaky voice.

The black, glossy marbles for eyes looked up at the henchmen, smirking smugly with the red painted, scarred smile of his, chuckling softly as he replied.

"She…is the one we've been looking for…." He said softly before he broke out into an insane, ear piercing laughing fit.

…..

_Angela's POV_

With dried mascara, eyeliner and tear stains on my face, I arrived at his doorstep and knocked on his door, still shaking with fear. I just knew I was going to have nightmares that night. That sick and twisted smile, deep scars, and black holes for eyes. Every time I closed my eyes, the image of his face was always there.

I then heard the sound of the door opening, which interrupted my flashback. I opened my eyes slowly to see Jonathan standing in front of him, with a somewhat worried look on his face. I must've looked a wreck, but for the first time, I didn't care what I looked like in front of him. All I cared about was that I was with him, and that's all that mattered.

"Angela? What happened to you?" He asked sternly, stepping out of the way, inviting me inside his house.

I could barely get the words out, but I somehow managed to tell him the story of what happened, even through the massive set of tears that flowed down my cheeks. About how that man had the most haunting eyes, and sickening scars, and twisted smile, and how he looked at me. I thought I would never forget about it as long as I live. He then took me in his arms, caressing my back caringly as he comforted me, which only made me cry even more. I usually would have never cried that much in front of people, but to me, this was an exception.

He put his hands on my shoulders, looking me straight in the eyes. "Everything is going to be okay, Angela. He's not going to find you. I promise." He seemed so sincere. He seemed as if he really did care. And it made me feel safe. Wanted. But, there was still something in his eyes that told me that he still knew something. Something he wasn't telling me.

I gave him a slight nod, and smiled for him. He then grabbed my chin softly to tip my head upwards towards him, and softly touched his lips to mine, causing those silly butterflies to erupt in my stomach, making me feel as if I was floating. He always knew how to make me happy. His kisses were becoming more passionate, full of emotion. I guess this was his way of telling me he wanted to be with me, which was totally fine with me.

He slowly pulled back, looking at me with his laser like eyes, sparkling and dancing in the dim lamp light. They looked more beautiful than ever before. Then, without a second of hesitation, I stood on my tip toes and kissed him once more. Emotion was bursting through me as our lips touched the second time, causing me to unconsciously wrap my arms loosely around his neck, while he put his hands softly on my hips. Our bodies were then pressed together tightly as the kiss deepened. He then moved his hands towards the bottom of my shirt, gripping it tightly, and quickly removed it from my body. I wasn't surprised by his actions, for I had done the same thing to him. The emotions that we expressed washed over both of us so strongly, we slowly migrated back to his room, and closed the door, and for the first time in my life, I had made passionate and everlasting love.

….

**A/N: Aaaaaaaand cut! :D So, I had so much fun writing this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! :D And the Joker makes an appearance, although it's just the first scene from the Dark Knight, with some added details and dialogue, but hey, at least you now know that he's in the story now :D And I apologize that his POV is not in first person, because I didn't know what type of things his insane mind would cook up, so I stuck with third person, just to be safe :) And please tell me in the future if he seems OOC, cause I don't want to make that mistake more than once! **

**Great news! I've reached the 1,000 views point for this story, and I couldn't be happier! I didn't expect this to happen! Thank you everyone who has read my story so far! :D It's greatly appreciated! And as always, reviews and criticism is welcome! Just as long as it's not rude. I'll delete it if it is. **

**Next question: What is your favorite Broadway musical? I'm sorry for those of you who don't like Broadway musicals, but I just had to ask this question. xD **

**And I want to leave a shout-out for my new friend, ****LinVolturi****, who has given me some ideas for this story, and is just an awesome person! And please, check out her story as well! It's called "No One Is Incorruptible". It's amazing, and you guys will enjoy it as well! Have a nice day, my lovelies! : ) **


	7. Secrets

**A/N: ****Thank you for those who reviewed! Almost to 2,000 views! So exciting! :D Thank you! **

**My Answer: As for my favorite Broadway musical, it has to be Phantom of the Opera. I grew up with it. I know everything and anything about it. The dialogue, the music, the whole nine yards. It's amazing, and I will be going to NYC to see it for my graduation present! Although I won't be a senior until next year. Ah well. I'm sure it'll be worth the wait!**

**Now, after this chapter, it's going to get pretty intense from here on out. Or at least, I hope so! This chapter is going to be a little short, but it's needed to lead into the next chapter. **

**Unfortunately, the next chapter will not be up until sometime in August, for I will be on vacation from this coming Tuesday until July 31****st****. I should have told you guys last chapter, but I forgot. I apologize! Alright, enough of me, read the chapter! :D**

**Secrets**

I woke up to the sun shining in my face. My vision was blurry, and my head was pounding. At first, I wasn't quite sure where I was. My memory was not sharp at that moment. All I knew was that I was in a strange room, alone, without any clothes on. I slowly sat up and walked to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror, and thought back to the night before. The way he looked at me. The way he caressed me with his warm, strong hands. The way our bodies aligned with each other, like puzzle pieces. And puzzle pieces always fit perfectly. Jonathan and I were perfect for each other. I just hoped felt that way as well.

After I took a nice, long, warm shower, I stepped out to the kitchen to make some coffee with a black robe of Jonathan's. I looked around to see if Jonathan was home, but found a note on the dinner table instead.

_Angela,_

_I will be back later this evening. You're welcome to stay here until I get back._

_Jonathan_

I let out a sigh of disappointment, but nodded slowly as I decided to accept his offer. I took a spoon and mixed together the creamer and sugar in my coffee as I migrated back to his bedroom. I sat down on the bed, and let out another loud sigh. After only twenty minutes, I was already lonely and bored, Jonathan didn't get off of work until later that evening. It was going to be a long day.

Once I was done with my coffee, I walked back into the kitchen and washed the mug out and sat it in the sink.

'What are you going to do to keep yourself occupied?' I asked myself. I really had no idea what to do. I didn't want to go home, though. I wanted to be there when he came back. It would be kind of awkward after what happened the night before, I would just leave and not say anything. Then, an amazing idea occurred to me. This would be the perfect time to see what Jonathan had been hiding from me. As I said before, I was pretty good at reading people's thoughts, and I knew that Jonathan was not telling me something. Although, I felt guilty about snooping around, if we were going to be together, I had to know everything about him, whether he would tell me himself or not.

When I was back in his room, I could hear 'Another Brick in the Wall' play softly in the pile of clothing beside the bed. I swiftly walked over, and grabbed my phone from my pants pocket. 'Mom' was flashing across the screen. With a good eye roll and sigh I answered. She would only call back again if I didn't.

"Hello?" I said in a groggy voice. I guess talking to her would give me something to do.

"Hello, sweetie! What are you up to?" She said in her normal, overly cheerful voice.

"Um, I'm just watching some television, and drinking coffee." I didn't want her to know where I really was. I felt guilty, for I had rarely ever lied to my mother. But, this was completely necessary. She would flip if I would have told her I had spent the night with a man I wasn't married to.

"Oh, speaking of television, I had heard about the bank robbery that happened yesterday. You had told me that you were making a trip to the bank, and I wanted to make see if you were there when it happened, and if you were okay!"

As expected, I hadn't forgotten what had happened the day before. I swallowed and cleared my throat, taking a deep breath in, and exhaling loudly. I wasn't sure what to tell her.

"Um, well. I…I was there when it happened. But, I promise, I'm alright! Nothing happened! They just came, got the money, and left. I swear, that's all that happened!"

She let out a gasp. I knew I would regret telling her that. "Angela, baby, you could've gotten killed! Police said that there was a least five people dead! Angela, I want you to come to my house as soon as possible. I mean it!" Damn. I didn't want her to know that there were people killed. She had this frightened tone in her voice. I hadn't heard any other tone besides cheerful come from her in a very long time. She must have been really upset.

"Mom, I'm fine! Honest! I was just a little shaken up, but who wouldn't be? I don't need to come over there. I'll be okay. I promise." That was another lie I had told her. I didn't know if I was going to be okay. The way the man looked at me sent shivers down my spine every time I thought about it.

She let out a sigh, and paused for a moments. "Alright, honey. But, if you hear anything else about this….Joker guy, I want you to call me right away and I'll be right over. Understand?"

"Joker? Is that his name?" I said breathlessly

"I guess so. Did you see him? Apparently he has scars on his face, shaped like a smile of some sort."

I took in a deep breath and sighed softly, the image of that red smile of his coming into mind. I didn't think they would ever go away.

"Yes, mom. I saw him." I said almost inaudibly.

She let out a gasp. "Oh, Angie! This is terrible! Did he look at you? Did he touch you? Oh, my gosh, you really could've gotten killed! This man has apparently killed so many people, and you could've been one!" As she stumbled on her words, she mumbled a bunch of 'oh's', along with extreme hyperventilating. She always took things way too far.

She hadn't called me Angie in years. I wonder why she decided to call me that.

"Mom! Mom! Calm down. I'm not dead, so you don't have to freak out so much!" At least, I wasn't dead yet. The way the Joker guy looked at me, made it seem that I was on his list. Who knew what he would've done to me if he would've taken me hostage. I probably wouldn't be there talking to my mom at that moment, that's for sure. Probably not to anyone.

As she took slow, long breaths to calm down, she cleared her throat. "Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm just so worried about you, Angie." There, she said it again. "If your father was here, he would've protected you."

I stiffened at the mention of my father, but I decided to pretend she didn't say anything. "Well, I'm fine, mom. I've got to go, though. I have some….cleaning to do."

She let out another sigh. "Fine. But, like I said before, if you need any help with anything, and I mean _**anything, **_do not hesitate to tell me. I love you, Angie." There it was again!

"Bye, mom." I said forcefully, and hung up the phone before she could answer back.

It took a little thought, but I remembered what I was doing before my mother called me. I softly tossed my cell phone on the bed, and immediately began to snoop around. I still felt guilty about it at first, but I knew it had to be done. I started by looking around the top drawers of his dresser, all the way to the other side of the room to his chest of drawers, and I hadn't found anything yet. I was beginning to give up, but I looked in the bottom drawer anyway. What I saw gave me a look of shock on my face.

What I saw was the potato-sack mask from the other night, and folded up pieces of paper at the bottom, and two forms, injection and gas, of what was called 'fear toxin'. What was all of this? Did he…poison people? Was this his so called 'research'? At that moment, my heart was pounding, and I felt nauseous. But most of all, I felt hurt. The Jonathan I knew was a lie. I had found what I had been looking for, but somehow, I wish I hadn't. I wish I could take it back. I wish I wasn't such a curious person. It would've saved me from all the pain I had suffered.

As tears flowed down my cheeks, my eyes traveled back into the drawer and looked down at the folded pieces of paper. I wondered if they had some sort of record of patients. I knew I would be sorry, but there wasn't anything else I couldn't handle at that moment.

I opened the first paper, and eyed down at it. It wasn't a set of records at all. It was a letter. They all were. I moved into a more comfortable position, for I knew it would take a long time to read all of them.

The first ones were all from family members from a long time ago. I hesitated at first, but decided to go on and read the last one.

I slowly opened it at the crease and slowly read the first sentence. This one was different from the others. It wasn't from a family member. I slowly began to read on, extremely interested.

_**Jonathan,**_

_**I'm writing you this as I come back from telling Ra's Al Guhl the message. He seemed very pleased, and he has informed me that he will be coming to Gotham very soon. I wanted to tell you this so you can tell everyone else to get ready for his arrival, especially Falcone. I just hope this is worth it. I hope it was worth leaving my Angela. **_

_**Jack**_

I scanned my eyes over and over the letter multiple times until I let out a gasp and threw the letter on the ground. Was this a dream? It had to be… It couldn't have been…

"…D-Dad?" I wheezed out breathlessly.

I quickly stood up onto my feet, but soon went falling backwards due to my poor balance. I was in pure shock. I didn't know what to think. What to feel. I was numb. As numb as I was the night he left us.

"_Well, Angela. Looks like you found out our little secret. I knew you would sooner or later."…._A voice said close behind me. What did he mean by 'our'? Stiff and frightened, I decided to take the risk by turning around, although I already knew who it was.

"Jonathan?..." I said hesitantly, my eyes sparkling with newly formed tears.

"No!" He bellowed. "Scarecrow!"

His demonic sounding voice, and his masked face being the last things I saw before I was surrounded by complete, cold, darkness.

**A/N: ****I know, I know, short chapter. Don't remind me. It's just that I've had such little time to prepare this chapter, because I'm leaving here very soon, but just think of this chapter and next chapter just being split into two parts! You'll just have to wait for the next part until I get back from Cancun, Mexico! ;)**

**Now, for a new question to keep you guys busy while I'm gone…**

**What superpower have you always wanted, and why? **

**I'll update when I'll get back! :D bye lovey doveys :D**


	8. Jake

**Disclaimer: (haven't done these in a while. Oops.) I do not own Jonathan Crane, or any other Batman characters that may be used in this story. I also don't own **_**The Dark Knight**_**. **

**Jake**

_**Flashback**_

"_I can't take it anymore!" bellowed a low voice from the kitchen. "You're always trying to tell me what to do! I'm a grown man! I can make my own decisions!" _

"_Jake, I'm just trying to help you! You're grades have went down in college! That's not the Jake I know! What's happened to you?" replied my mother in a calm voice._

"_I have changed mom! I'm not that sweet little boy anymore! He Is long gone!" He said as his voice began to grow closer as he approached the front door with a big backpack on his back. _

_He ignored the sounds of my mother's sobs as he slowly turned towards fourteen year old me who was standing at the edge of the stairs._

"_Where are you going?" I asked softly._

"_I'm sorry, Ange" He began. " I know this is hard for you, but understand it's hard for me too. I just can't stand being told what to do anymore. I need to move on." _

_He grabbed both sides of my head and kissed my forehead. He tilted my head up and looked into my eyes, wiping away the silent tears flowing from my eyes. Before he had the chance to make any second thoughts, he turned quickly away, and stormed out the door._

…_.._

I woke up with a strong jerk, my breathing at an extremely fast pace. I was covered in cold sweat, and my vision was blurry, as if I had been crying in my sleep. I rubbed my eyes softly, and blinked a couple of times to get the remaining tears out of my sight. I squinted a little, but I could see around the room pretty well. By the looks of it, I guessed that I was in a basement. With the constant pounding of my head, I still managed to push myself slowly onto my feet. I stumbled a little, but my balance was surprisingly stable. I refreshed my memory, and there was only one thing that came into mind almost immediately.

Jake.

I hadn't thought about him in years. I had tried to forget about him. Why would I suddenly have a flashback about him now? I hadn't seen him since I was fourteen. Of course, I had a terrible memory, but somehow, it still stuck with me all those years. It was nice to see his face in my thoughts again, though. I had almost forgotten what he had looked like. I couldn't help but wonder what he looked like fourteen years later? Did he still have the egg shaped head with freckles all over his cheeks? Did he still have that long, and skinny frame? Or long wavy hair lied just above his eyebrows? Or that smile that would brighten a whole room?

I suddenly shook my head, trying to get him out of my thoughts. I knew I would never see him again, so why think about him? It would only bring more pain. But, a girl can still hope and dream that she will someday see her loving brother once more.

_**Scarecrow's POV**_

I was sitting in front of Jonathan's laptop, snooping around, listening to his loud, obnoxious and irritating complaints. He almost never let me take over unless it was for something important. I kept telling him that this was important, but he didn't listen to me. He never does.

"_Scarecrow! I told you so many times that you cannot come out unless I tell you to!" He said, loudly once more._

I rolled my eyes slightly, even though I was very used to his constant nagging.

"Yes, yes, Johnny I know! I've heard you a thousand times! But don't you trust me? I'm trying to help you!" And that was true. I did know what I was doing.

"_Help me with what? Angela?" _

"Of course, stupid! She found out about your secrets, now it's time to dig up some of her dirt!"

I quickly opened the Internet tab and waited for the homepage to come up. I went to type in an address, but stopped suddenly. What social networking websites did people use? I was never one for electronics.

"I've seen this one site that young people use a lot. It starts with an 'F' I think." I chimed loudly "People get on there to share about themselves and talk to their friends."

"_It's called Facebook, you idiot. I have one. But, I don't ever use it, because I had made it a long time ago. Before you ever showed up." He said with a snap. _

"Jonathan, you act like I'm such a huge burden to you. Would you like me to leave you to defend for yourself?"

He sighed softly. _"No, I don't. I need you. You just annoy the shit out of me." _

He smirked happily at the last sentence. I always enjoyed annoying him, knowing he would never want me to leave.

I typed in the address, and Jonathan's email and password. I didn't waste any time, and accepted Angela's friend request, and went straight to her profile. Every post on there was of something stupid and girlish. I rolled my eyes in annoyance, but still continued to look. I was about to move on to something else until something rather interesting caught my eye. I looked at the list of her family she had added, and it showed a picture of her mother. Curious, I clicked to go to her profile, and showed a picture of her and her mother together on some family trip to the Bahamas. I had to admit, Angela had definitely always been a pretty little thing. I could see why Jonathan was so interested in her in the first place. I definitely couldn't blame him.

I decided to look more closely at her mother's profile, for I had noticed that she posted things that looked like a teenager wrote it. She must've been very vulnerable, just like her daughter. She could be a good key to this plan. My eyes then scanned to the left of the screen to view her family list, which of course, had Angela on it. But, the most interesting thing I had seen was someone who shared her last name. It had read 'Jake Johnson', and he picture showed a young man and underneath it said 'Son'. My grin had still grown two times as I observed his profile. The last post's date read '2006'.His page had been inactive for two years. Where had he been all that time?

'_Maybe something happened to him.' Jonathan thought._

I nodded my head in agreement. The picture of him looked very familiar. He reminded me of this young boy I had seen had mob meetings. Same eyes. Same hair. Same facial structure. The boy had always stuck out in my mind, because he stuck out like a sore thumb. He looked like he belonged in a country club rather than in a mob. Could this be him? And if so, I knew exactly where to find him. No one has ever left the mob once they've been inducted.

Angela had a brother. I could hear Jonathan's faint, dark chuckles in perfect sync with my own. If Angela would ever step out of line with us, I knew exactly what to do.

_**Angela's POV**_

I had thought I was going to go crazy. It had been two hours since I had woken up, and not a single sound had been made other than my own breathing.

Where was Jonathan? Or 'Scarecrow' to be exact.

My eyes widened, and I started to stifle out soft sobs. I didn't want Jonathan near me. He was the reason I had been in this mess. I was locked down in a basement, and it was all because of him.

He had lied to me. He had acted like he had feelings for me. I thought he loved me. I lost my innocence to him. And I couldn't ever get it back. It was gone forever.

How could he do this to me? I never did anything to him except love him with all my heart. I thought he was the one I was going to spend the rest of my life with. I thought he would never hurt me. Lie to me. Use me. Use me for what, I didn't know. His disgusting research, probably.

I had never met anyone who was obsessed with fear. I'm sure there were people interested in the emotion, but no one would ever go to extremes like he did. I was sure no one else would knock someone out and lock them in a basement to do research on them. It was just insane. That's just what he was, though. He belonged in a padded cell with his patients.

With all these negative thoughts about him flowing through my mind, I still couldn't change the fact that I still loved him. Love was a stronger emotion than fear. No matter how afraid I would become of him, my love for him would always conquer.

…..

A few more hours passed by before I perked up at the sound of feet stepping on the stairs behind the steel door. When the door opened, all I saw was his tall and scrawny silhouette. I immediately jumped up and backed as far away as I could from the door. The heels of his shoes echoed through the room with each step he took. I listened to the clicking grow louder, but couldn't tell how close he was, for I had my eyes tightly shut. I then could hear the sounding of his deep and raspy breathing.

This was not Jonathan. It was Jonathan's body, but this was not him. It was someone else….

Scarecrow?

"Who are you?" I asked sternly, but with my eyes still closed.

"The question is, WHAT am I?" She answered sharply, making me flinch a little.

I opened my eyes, only to see his face covered with the potato sack mask I saw last before everything went black before I woke up here.

"A-Alright.. what are you, then?"

He chuckled darkly in my ears, and the only thing my eyes met was his electric blue ones. They were dark, which matched his voice.

His eyes squinted, which made think he was smirking underneath that horrific mask.

"I'm your worst nightmare, of course…" He chuckled as he surprised me with a puff of gas that came from underneath his sleeve. It immediately took effect as I felt as if I was 10,000 feet up. I looked down at the ground, which gave the illusion that I was that high up. As my eyes slowly widened, and my breathing picked up, but surprisingly, I did not react the way he had hoped. I just stood there motionless.

I clinged to the wall, attempting to make myself feel safe, but it didn't work. I only felt myself climb higher and higher, and my heart pound heavily against my ribs.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally started to calm down. My hands were shaking, and my breathing was still out of rhythm. My vision was blurry from both my light headedness and tears. I tried to keep my eyes open, but my eyelids always seemed to close shut. I wanted to stay conscious for as long as I possibly could.

I heard nearby heel clicking as he approached me. He bent down to my height and snickered softly.

"You have a very interesting reaction to the toxin. You didn't scream at all…I've never had anyone do that. You're definitely…a _keeper."_ He said in an almost demonic voice. "Oh, and just one more thing… If you ever attempt to escape….I'll kill your precious Jake."

I couldn't respond, for I continued to fight as hard as I could, but I couldn't keep a hold of consciousness any longer. My vision slowly began to go black as the last thing I heard and felt was low snickering, and a soft brushing of my right cheek, and I slowly went limp. I never wanted to go through with that again. I would kill myself before I ever had the chance to go through it again.

But this… was just the beginning.

**A/N: Well, hello, lovelies! I missed you guys! I know I've been gone for a long time, but now I'm back! But, I wouldn't get too comfortable, for I will not be posting as often as I have been for the past chapters. These past two weeks will be dedicated to band camp, and after that, school will be started by then.. I apologize. And I also apologize that this chapter is kinda short, but I've had a HUGE case of writer's block. My hands and my brain were not agreeing at ALL! I'm sure you guys have been through that as well.. But, I think it was all because of my Cancun trip.. But I'm here! And ready to work! :D Thank you all for sticking with me! I appreciate it!**

**By the way, if it seems weird to you that Scarecrow is on Facebook, I'm sorry. I just thought it was appropriate because everyone puts just about everything about themselves on facebook these days, not really personal stuff, but stuff like their family and friends. Scarecrow only wanted to see what her life back at home, only to find out that she has a brother! Crazy, right? I hope the fact that I introduced her brother a little late in the story isn't bad to you guys. I just thought it was appropriate for later in the story! :) **

*****NEWS FLASH! I now have a poll waiting for you guys to vote on on my profile page! **_**Please**_** go vote! It's a matter of life or death! Ahhhh! (Not really) But, seriously. Go vote. **

**Now, new question! :D**

**Who is your favorite singer? :D **

**Post your answer in the reviews! **

**Thanks! **


	9. Everything's Going To Be Okay

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jonathan Crane, any other Batman characters, or **_**The Dark Knight. **_

**Everything's Going To Be Okay**

I wanted to be dead. Being dead would be better than going through all this pain. Not just physical pain, but mentally and emotionally. _Especially_ mentally. It had been one week since Scarecrow took me into this hell hole, but it seemed like an eternity. At that point, I was sure I was never going to escape. I was sure I was going to be there for the rest of my miserable and unworthy life.

First, it was a psychotic clown who haunted me, then the only man I had ever loved. The thoughts of the Joker never truly went away before, but Scarecrow did somehow drown him out of my mind completely. Or, it might've been the fear toxin itself, I don't know. All I knew is that the fear toxin I was exposed to must have been a very high dosage, for my sanity was falling over the edge.

"Scarecrow…..Scarecrow…_Scarecrow._" I mumbled softly through my muffled sobs.

Everywhere I looked, I felt paranoid that he was nearby. Watching my every move. Waiting for when I would be most vulnerable.

I never knew when he would show up, even though I expected him to every second. I stayed in my little corner. I never moved. I was too afraid to. Even though it sounded childish, I felt safe in my little corner. Even though it didn't completely protect my from him, it helped convince my conscience that I would be.

I stayed in my little corner, hugging my knees, hoping and praying that I would spend another day alive…

…..

What seemed like months, was only a few hours later. I was still hugging my knees, but I wasn't crying anymore. I was too emotionally worn out to cry. But, it didn't bother me. It only made me feel stronger. Less vulnerable. I felt more ready to face him again. Maybe next time, I thought, he would go easy on me. Give me a break. I then slowly shook my head, knowing it would be too good to happen.

A loud noise then interrupted my deep thinking, which made me gasp loudly and jump. What the hell was that? Usually Jonathan would be out of the house by this time. Maybe he was back early. I hoped not.

I then heard a pair of feet climb quickly down the stairs, followed by another pair, and another, and another. Who the hell was with him? People to help him with me? I highly doubted that.

I heard muffled voices come from behind the door, but I couldn't hardly pick up the conversation. My heart started to pick up pace, even though my heart was always beating quickly. An eerie feeling washed over me, as I got the sudden urge to vomit. I had a feeling that this was going to be very bad.

The door then quickly slammed open as four silhouettes revealed themselves. One at a time, they stepped into the light. They all looked like regular men, but so did Jonathan. They were all mumbling words to each other, but I could only pick up a few such as 'the boss' and 'his little girlfriend'.

Their words didn't matter to me, however. I just wanted to know who they were, and why they were here. Were they here to rescue me? Were the cops in disguise? I could only hope so.

The first one in the room came over to me first, and picked me up, for I was so limp and weak, I wouldn't be able to carry myself.

As we exited Jonathan's house, or that's what it looked like, I could hear their muffled words, but I still couldn't hear anything clearly. My mind was wandering all over the place, and I couldn't concentrate on one single thing. The only thing I was sure of was that I was thanking these men for rescuing me. I owed them my life.

As we reached what looked like a white van parked in front of the house, they opened the sliding door to the back of the van, and roughly threw me in. Even though landed hard on my right arm, I didn't think too much about it. I was just glad to be alive.

We drove for around an hour until we finally came to a quick halt, causing me to fly forward and hit my head on the back of the front seat. While I was trying to recover from a pounding headache, one of the men roughly pulled me by the arms, and threw me out of the van. I lied there so motionless on the ground, I probably could've passed as dead.

Being drugged up as I was, I still managed to hold myself up against the side of the van, eventually bringing myself up to my feet. As soon as I caught my balance, I was only knocked back down to the ground again by one of the men. That made me realize that I was not in the hands of cops. Who were these men?

"Man, I have a feeling the boss is not going to like that this bitch is drugged up. He said he wanted her fully alert. What are we going to do?" Said the man closest to me, probably the one who knocked me down.

"I don't know, dude. Maybe we can rough her up a little bit? Maybe it'll wake her ass up." Said another one.

A few moments went by until I felt a sharp sensation on the side of my ribs, which only made me squirm and moan in pain. It did however, give me a wake up call. I sat up quickly with my vision and hearing sharper than It was the past week. I looked around at the four men surrounding me, trying to figure out what was going on, where I was, and who these people were.

"Well, lookie here! The slut is awake!" Said the one with red hair.

"Yeah, get up! We don't have all day! Come on! The boss waiting for you!" Said the one beside the red haired one while pulling on my blonde locks to make me stand up. He quickly pushed me up against the door of the van, and he pushed himself roughly against me, pointing the gun sharply to my side.

"Or, I could just keep you for myself. You're such a pretty little thing. I've been waiting for…someone like _you."_ His voice was sharp as needles, which made me flinch, as he whispered them softly into my ear. The other men surrounded me closely, groping me inappropriately as they snickered loudly in my ears. I tried to fight them off, but as soon as I did, they only made things worse for me. They attempted to tear off my clothes, but I squirmed just enough for them to fail, but they only attempted again. During all the rustling and fighting, I heard faint shoes clicking on the ground, which automatically made the men stop, and step off of me, causing me to slide down the side of the door and back onto the ground. I waited until I could see clearly again to look up to see who it was.

As soon as I looked up, I met two glassy black marbles for eyes immediately. It took me a minute to realize it, but I was staring at the man who had haunted my nightmares. The man who had given me my worst fear, besides that of heights.

With that red smile of his, he made a real one at me, revealing his yellow-ish teeth. He then gave me a slight chuckle of amusement.

"Well, hello Angela. We meet at last-_ah_." He chuckled darkly, which made me shudder in fright. He took a hand and brushed my hair behind my ear, attempting to calm me down, but caused me to do the complete opposite.

"Oh, don't worry, everything is going to be okay. I'm going to take real good care of you…" He hissed as he turned back towards the men behind him, who were just about as frightened as I was.

"Gentlemen, what do you think you're doing to this poor woman? Someone needs to teach you men some…_**manners" **_He spit out towards them.

In a split second, all four men were lying on the ground, motionless. I stared at their dead bodies with wide eyes, not daring to look up at the man standing with his back towards me. As soon as he snapped his head towards me, I hid my face in my hands, my knees pulled tightly against my torso.

"Oh, come on now, miss Angela, I told you it's going to be okay… Please don't cry… come, now, give me a nice smile" He said in a fake, cheerful voice.

I looked up at him, tears surprisingly absent from my eyes. I stared into the coldness of his eyes, not even trying to attempt to give him a fake smile.

"Angela.. when someone asks you to do something…" He began slowly, "You must be polite and do what is being asked of you. Now, please, give.. me…a…_**smile!" **_He said sharply as he slapped his hand across my face, leaving a red handprint on my cheek.

I looked up at him with a hand gently pressed against the mark. I met his eyes once more, blinking several times before attempting to give him the best smile I could give at that moment.

He seemed to be satisfied, for he smiled right back, giving me a pat on the head. "Good girl, Angela! Now, before someone sees us around these bums, we better get inside! Get up!" He said forcefully, which made me jump up, and immediately felt his hand wrap around my forearm tightly, leading me towards the abandoned warehouse. While trying to keep up with his fast walking, I finally had enough courage to speak out to him.

"U-um, how do you know my name?" I said meekly.

He stopped quickly in his tracks, sighing deeply and turned slowly towards me. He didn't look too amused that I was already asking questions, but he seemed willing enough to answer me in a civil manner.

"In time… you will know…" He said with a smirk. Where had I heard that before? It sounded so familiar.

A few moments later, I was thrown onto a bed in a room with purple colored walls.

It was quiet for a moment. It was so peaceful. The only sense of peace I had felt in one week. It was amazing. I wished it would last forever.

The peacefulness was quickly interrupted once I heard the door slam shut and shoes click against the wooden floor. The clicking grew closer, and closer, until they stopped. It replace of it, I heard deep, loud breathing. I then felt a hand grab my shoulder and forcefully jerked it to make me roll over on my back. I was staring up at the Joker, with a knife in his hands, twirling it continuously.

In a blink of an eye, the knife was sharply pressed against my right cheek, causing it to puncture my skin. I could feel blood trickle down my face. The pain was so unbearable, I wanted to knock the knife out of his hands, but I knew if I did, I would be killed.

"Now, Angela, I want you to be a good girl for me and stay here while I go out and get you your little…._**surprise…**_Okay?" He said in the fake, cheery voice again.

Surprise? What on earth would he be talking about? I didn't want to think about what his definition of a surprise was.

His head quickly shot up when we heard the door knob turn. He pushed himself off of the bed angrily, and stormed towards the door. He yanked it open before the person behind it had the chance to push it.

"What do you want? I told you to wait in the lobby, you idiot!" He said angrily. At this point, I was sitting up, trying to see around him to see who it was.

"I-I'm sorry, boss," I heard the man say quietly. "I just figured, I saw you bring her in here, I thought that I would come by and visit her. I had forgotten what you told me… I'm sorry. I won't do it again…"

The Joker shook his head slowly, and sighed. "Okay, fine. Just for a minute, but I want to remind you that you ruined the surprise!" He groaned as he slowly stepped out of the way, revealing the man in front of him.

Long, wavy hair. Tall, skinny frame. Brown eyes. Freckles on his cheeks.

Could this really be….?

"….Jake?"

**A/N: Well, that was surely a fun chappie! I love the Joker :D I wonder what Johnny will say when he finds his beloved Angie gone?! Well, you'll find out sure enough! :D **

**I hope you liked this chapter :D I hope the Joker doesn't seem to OOC to you. I really tried hard to make him as real as possible. Hopefully it was enough :D **

**Now for the answer for the last question, my favorite singer is Michael Jackson. He is my inspiration for everything I do. He inspires me to keep trying, even though there have been times where I just want to quit. He keeps me motivated. I love you, Michael! My sweet angel. R.I.P!**

**Now, next question!**

**What are your hobbies? **

**Post your answers in the reviews! **

**Peace! **


	10. The Better Choice

**AN: Hey remember me?! I was that one girl who wrote that one story… but for MONTHS I've been on hiatus. Well, I've returned! I haven't forgotten about this story, I've just been terribly busy, and school and work has consumed my life. But, only 20 days left of school and I'm home free, baby! I'm so sorry if you guys thought I had died, or forgotten about this story. I just haven't had the time or inspiration to post a chapter. But, ideas popped into my head one night and my fingers couldn't stop typing! This chapter may be a little rough, and I apologize, but a very long hiatus can affect ones story making skill! So, bare with me! Please! :D **

**Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or their characters. **

I blinked, utterly shocked. Here he was standing right in front of me. My dear brother whom I hadn't seen in years. I couldn't find the right words to describe what I was thinking or how I was feeling. The thoughts in my head were spinning and racing through my head too fast to say anything. My heart pounded loudly in my ears.

Jake took a few steps inside the door, staring at me with his big, beautiful hazel-brown eyes. I could tell that he was just as shocked as I was. I could see from a distance tears swelling up in his eyes. I would have done the same, but there were no more tears in my system.

After a few awkward beats, I decided to stand up from the bed and walk over towards him, not breaking eye contact. As I stopped right in front of him, I couldn't help my throw my arms around his neck tightly, burying my head into his neck. He still smelled the same. I felt his strong arms wrap around my waist tightly, as if he would never let go. I hope he never did.

"Oh, Angie..I've missed you so much…." He suddenly spit out with much shakiness in his voice, as well as his hands. He was being sincere.

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally pulled back, even though I didn't want him to. I wasn't ready to let him go, but I reluctantly followed him. A small smile was painted across his face, which only made me do the same. I remembered that his smile was very contagious.

"Oh, how touching!" Joker chimed, wiping away fake tears. "But, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to cut this little family reunion short… I have stuff to discuss with Jakey-boy here!" He said as he grabbed Jake's arm roughly and dragged him out of the room. "I'll be back later, my dear…" He said with a wink and slammed the door in my face.

The smile that Jake had given me was still stupidly present on my face. He was back, and this time, I was never letting him leave. Not this time. Not ever again.

_**Jonathan's POV**_

It was late in the evening when I arrive back home. The tires squeaked as I pulled into the drive way, for I was in a hurry. I quickly climbed my way through the car door, and slammed it, not bothering to lock it. I stormed my way through the house. I felt my heart beat against my ribs. It was a funny feeling, for my pulse never went passed 80.

"_What is wrong with you?" Scarecrow hissed._

"Something tells me that something isn't right…" I said with short breaths.

I made my way swiftly through the living room, through the kitchen and dining room, and through the hallway. I opened the door at the end of the hallway, and made my way down into the basement. I turned sharply to the right and pushed the door open roughly.

The room was dark, which was strange, for I knew the lights were on when I left. I stood there quietly before, listening to see if I could hear anything. But, there was nothing. No screams. No shuffling around. Nothing. I reached my arm towards the right to flip the light on. What was revealed made my pulse reach an all-time high.

Angela was gone. The blood in my veins suddenly started to boil, clenching my hands into balls to make fists, and I turned towards the wall, punching it with great force, making a gaping hole. I was so angry, I didn't even realize the excruciating pain that was thumping through my hand. Someone must've taken her. But who could have done it? I tried to search for possibilities in my head, but nothing was coming to mind.

"_What if it was clown boy?" Scarecrow suggested. _

My eyes widened, anger swelling in my face. The Joker had always been on my tail, which hadn't bothered me. Not until now. He was interfering with my work. And NO ONE interferes with my work.

"I'm going to kill him…" I said surprisingly calmly. I made my way back up the stairs, dashing my way through my house. I was now a man with a mission. A mission that I would not back away from until it was finished. Until Angela was back in my captivity. Even if it was the last thing I ever did.

_**Angela's POV**_

Several hours had passed by with no sign of the Joker or Jake. I was beginning to get worried when I suddenly heard the door handle turn slowly. I snapped my head back towards the door, intensely waiting for who would be behind it.

The Joker was revealed behind the skinny door. I was disappointed, but I didn't show it. I didn't want him commenting on it.

"Honey, I'm home!" He said jokingly with a spine tingling chuckle. I wasn't nearly amused though, even though I knew it would piss him off, I didn't care.

"Where's Jake?" I asked simply as I watched him make his way towards me.

"Oh, Jakey-boy is in the lobby. But, I don't want you going down there. Not yet, at least. Not until I can trust you enough not to wander off. I would miss you too much!" He said as he patted my cheek as if I was a child.

My eyes wondered towards the floor as I made my way over to the bed to sit down. I was hoping I would see Jake again tonight, but I guessed that wasn't going to happen. I wasn't going to argue with the Joker, for I feared what would happen if I did.

I quietly twiddled my thumbs, deep in thought. I didn't dare turn around, for I knew that he was changing his clothes. When I heard him approach me when he was finished, I snapped my head towards the opposite direction.

"Aw, Angie! Why won't you look at me? I mean, I'm not THAT ugly, am I?" He said with a light giggle.

He placed his hand roughly under my chin, sharply turning my head towards him, meeting his dark and eerie gaze, sending chills down my spine.

"That's better!" He said with a smile, revealing his disgustingly yellow teeth. I couldn't help but wonder if he brushed his teeth.

"Why am I here?" I asked bluntly.

He slowly removed his hand from my chin, placing in down by his side. He took a few moments to reply, searching for the right explanation.

"I had to find some way to get Johnny-boy here… and being the pervert that he is, I just knew that he had kidnapped you. So I hired a few men to break into the house and take you from him when he was gone. Soon he'll figure out I did it, and he'll be storming though here any day now!"

I swallowed hard, for I didn't want him coming back for me. I didn't want to go back. I would much rather stay here, with Jake. At least I knew I would be safe with him, even if the Joker would be around. I can't believe I thought this, but the Joker seemed like a better choice for me at the time.

At least, I thought it was better. But I was not prepared to be proved wrong.

**AN:**

**There you go! I know after a long wait, that wasn't a very good chapter to start out with, but like I said, it's the best I got after a LONG break. I promise I'll give you better ones soon! Just as long as you stay with me! I know, I'm a difficult person… D: **

**As for my hobbies? Well, my hobbies are writing, reading, acting, singing and dancing! **

**Next question:**

**What is your favorite book? **

**Post your answer in the reviews!**

**Until next time! CHAO!**


End file.
